Making History 2 The Fate of the Lost Ones
by FairyTale
Summary: While the war starts to rage, the Order of the Phoenix is struggling to work against Voldemort, Harry is confronted with the harsh reality of life, and Remus Lupin sees his own life threatening to fall apart in front of his eyes.
1. Protection

**Making History (2) – The Fate of the Lost Ones**

Summary: As Voldemort prepares to strike his final and fatal blow against the wizarding world, he meets the resistance at its weakest point.

The Order of the Phoenix is fraying quickly, trust is scarce and mistrust and suspicion are rising rapidly. Somebody from within is betraying their cause, and two men are finding themselves in a frightening déjà-vu situation. When it comes to the crunch, Remus Lupin suddenly finds himself in a situation he can neither control nor sustain on his own. And the questions as to who is there to help him is a question of trust. Only, trust is one of the rarest goods in times of war, where even friends can turn into enemies in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, Harry experiences his most trying school year yet. And he, too, is confronted very quickly with the question whom he can trust, and who is doing everything they can to deliver him into Voldemort's hands. When even your closest friends do not believe you, who can you turn to when things get rough?

Rating: PG-13, the usual occasional swear word

Disclaimer: I don't own anything here except the plot and the occasional original character. All Harry Potter™ settings and characters are the sole intellectual property of Joanne K. Rowling, her publishers, Warner Bros. and a lot of others who all aren't connected to me in any way. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made with this story as it was written for enjoyment only.

However, my OCs are all mine, so if you intend to use them, please ask for my permission first.

Author's Note: While Making History (1) was still a take on how canon might possibly continue, with the release of book 6 of the series, Making History (2) and (3) will become Alternative Universe, following the basic foundation I laid out in the first part of the trilogy. I have read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and while I don't plan on rewriting the book in my trilogy, I admit to have taken certain ideas from it and have modelled them to fit my own purposes. So even if you find something you think you have seen in the books already, it might lead to something entirely different and unexpected.

Dedication: This story would not have been possible the way I wanted it to be without the help of Eva PinkFoxRanger. During countless brainstorming sessions she helped me find ways to get the story where I wanted it, and she helped to keep the characters in line when they were acting up. I cannot credit her for every scene she helped me write, so I dedicate this entire story to her. Thank you.

Phew, that's been it, now on for the story.

**Chapter 01 – Protection**

Harry had just finished packing his trunk when there was a knock on his door. He frowned a bit. Hardy anybody ever knocked on the door, certainly not Ron with whom he was sharing the room. And Ron was probably still downstairs, collecting together things and pieces which he had strewn all over No. 12, Grimmauld Place over the past weeks. Harry dragged the trunk from the bed to the floor and turned towards the door.

"Come in."

It was no surprise to see Sirius and Remus come into the room, though Harry's stomach always gave a funny jolt upon seeing his godfather these days. He still had not gotten completely used to the fact that Sirius was back, alive and well. Not only just alive and back, the way he had been during the first days at St. Mungo's, completely unresponsive. But that was over now, and Harry was more than glad about it. A lot had changed in such a small amount of time, so that Harry at times had to forcefully remind himself of everything that was different now. Not only was Sirius back, alive and well, but he was also no longer a fugitive on the run from the Ministry. And, even more importantly, he officially had custody for Harry.

He didn't know what the following months would have in store for him, but one thing Harry knew for sure. He would never have to go back to the Dursleys. Come Christmas, he'd take the Hogwarts Express away from school and stay with his godfather. Wherever that was, here at Grimmauld Place or not, he didn't care. It was with Sirius, that was all that mattered at the moment.

It had been a bit surreal when, on the day of Sirius' hearing at the Ministry, a pair of Ministry caseworkers arrived in the early afternoon, asking to speak to him. Everybody in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place had been surprised at their appearance, Harry most of all, and for a short, horrible moment he had thought that Fudge had sent Sirius back to Azkaban and that the Ministry people were here to fetch him and bring him back to the Dursleys. He had been ready to jump up, hurry upstairs and get his broom, anything to avoid being brought back to his aunt and uncle, but then a pair of hands had settled on his shoulders, squeezing them gently and at the same time pressing Harry down into the chair, and Harry had relaxed a bit.

Even before he spoke, Harry had known that it was Remus standing behind him, and the thought had calmed him more than he would have thought possible. A short inquiry about the caseworkers' purpose of being at Grimmauld Place later, everybody except from Harry and – upon Harry's insistence - Remus had left the basement kitchen, the two caseworkers by the name of Nichols and Smith had sat down and had started something that had seemed like a very bizarre version of _Twenty Questions_.

It had been a strange questioning, very strange, and for long minutes Harry had not been able to make sense of what the purpose of their visit was. Harry didn't particularly care about their questions, about all those inquiries about his thoughts on his safety and all that other rubbish. More than once, Harry very nearly asked them about Sirius, asked them where his godfather was and what had happened at the questioning, but Smith and Nichols didn't give him a chance to ask questions of his own.

Not until the very end, when they had asked him the question that suddenly had given sense to all those surreal questions. _Can you imagine living with your godfather? Not only living, of course, can you imagine him being your legal guardian, the one who cares for you and makes all the legal decisions for you until you come of age?_

Harry hadn't been able to really believe it, yet there could only be one reason to pose a question like that, couldn't there? So his answer had been fast, and very determined. _Yes_. Of course he could imagine that. But that hadn't been the end of their questioning. _Was he aware that his godfather had spent twelve years in Azkaban, and that this could have had an influence on him? That he might have to consult psychological help in order to deal with his experiences?_ _Yes_, not that Harry particularly cared. Whatever Azkaban had done to Sirius beneath the surface, they would deal with it, as long as they were allowed to manage it together. For now, all that Harry wanted was that people finally allowed him to stay where he wanted. With the person he wanted to stay with – his godfather.

And just as abruptly as they had come, Smith and Nichols suddenly rose, thanked Harry for his time, and vanished through the fireplace. Confused, Harry had turned to Remus and had asked the question that had been foremost on his mind.

"Do you think he's all right?"

Remus had smiled and again reached out to squeeze Harry's shoulder reassuringly. "We'd know if anything had gone wrong by now."

"Then why did those two suddenly appear?"

"My guess is as good as yours, but I'd dare say your godfather brought up the issue of custody for you. Take it as a good sign, if he was in any situation to bring that up, he wasn't in any immediate danger of being arrested again."

To Harry, Remus had seemed strangely calm, too calm for such a situation, but in the end he had been right. Two endless hours later, Professor Dumbledore and Sirius had arrived back at Grimmauld Place, and though his godfather had looked horribly exhausted and pale, he had managed to convey in one single smile that things seemed to have worked out. There was paperwork, of course. Lots and loads of paperwork, but on the day after the hearing, Sirius had left for another appointment at the Ministry and had come back with the official granting of custody for Harry, written on parchment and as official as it could get, in his pocket.

And ever since then, Harry had to get used to the fact that his life had changed abruptly in such a short amount of time. That no matter what, he could stay with his godfather now.

Dumbledore wasn't overly excited about the idea, from what Harry had gathered, yet there was nothing he could do about it. Well, maybe there was if he really wanted to, but _that_ Harry didn't want to think about. Blood protection or not, Harry didn't want to go back to the Dursleys. Period. It was as simple as that, and his headmaster would have to accept that. Harry trusted his godfather to keep him safe, trusted him far more than he trusted an unwanted blood-bond to a family who despised him.

So even now, upon packing his things for his return to Hogwarts, Harry had to overcome that little moment of excitement and surprise upon seeing Sirius, and upon realising again that his godfather was alive, that Sirius was free, and that he could stay with Sirius now, officially and legally. The thought must have brought a smile to his face, because Sirius smiled back just as widely.

"Do you have a moment," Sirius asked.

Harry nodded.

"Sure. What's up?"

Sirius sat down on the edge of the bed while Remus took the chair in front of Harry's desk. Harry sat down on the windowsill and looked from one to the other. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the two looked slightly more serious than normal.

"Is anything wrong?"

Sirius quickly shook his head.

"No, nothing's wrong. We just wanted to give you something. A belated birthday present, so to say."

Harry frowned. "You really don't need to give me anything more, I told you that."

"Yes, but this is something different. Remus and I spent some thought on it. I know that you don't like to hear it, but no matter what we do, there is always the chance that we won't be there for you when things get tough. No matter how much we want to."

Harry took a deep breath and looked at Remus. If anybody, his former teacher should know by now how much he disliked those kinds of talks. But Remus only met his gaze calmly and waited for Sirius to continue.

"There is hardly a way for us to protect you if we're not there, but we want to try everything we can. That's why we took the past days to make this here."

He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out something which he placed into Harry's palm.

"I didn't have the time to wrap it, sorry. Or rather, I didn't exactly fancy a lengthy struggle with wrapping paper and a roll of spell-o-tape."

Harry tore his eyes away from Sirius' face and looked down. In his hand there was a thin but solid looking silver chain with a pendant attached to it. The pendant was plain silver and oval, roughly the size of a sickle, but thicker than an average coin. In the middle of it, some sort of tiny vial had been worked into the silver, the liquid in it dark red against the pendant. The surface was not smooth, and what looked like a hundred minuscule runes were engraved both on the front and the back. Harry could not decipher what any of it read. Maybe Hermione would have been able to read it, but Harry had never had any class in Ancient Runes at Hogwarts. He stared at the chain and pendant for another moment, then slowly raised his head. Sirius and Remus were watching him attentively.

"It's…it's beautiful. But what is it?"

"Well, obviously a pendant. And Remus and I took the liberty to weave the strongest protective magic we were capable of performing into it. I have the counterpart which lets me know if you are in danger and need me. As long as you wear it, we can protect you at least a bit even from the distance."

"How does it work?"

"In the best case it shields you from harm. Blocking curses, leading the way when you're lost, calling us to your side. It's not free ticket to walk freely amongst all kinds of curses, mind you, it can't protect you from just about anything or do everything for you, but it's a help."

"What's in that vial?"

Harry examined the pendant more closely between his fingers, but he couldn't find out.  
"Blood," Sirius simply said.

"Blood," Harry parroted, his voice startled. Sirius only nodded.

"Yes, blood. Our blood. You know that blood magic is the most protective magic that wizards know of. And as Remus and I share a blood bond, we could increase the strength of the charms. The blood is the core of the pendant's magic. It's just a few drops, but it helps."

Harry carefully lifted the chain and hung it around his neck. Immediately, a feeling of warmth spread from the chain and the pendant over his neck and chest, and after a moment the silver seemed to adjust to his body temperature so that he hardly felt it anymore. The two adults still watched him closely.

"You should pay attention when the pendant gets cold or warm against your skin, that's always a warning. My counterpart will react just the same, as soon as that happens Remus and I'll be there as fast as we can. If the pendant doesn't react but you still need me to come, just tap your wand against it and call my name."

Harry nodded and carefully settled the pendant inside his robes so that it hung across his bare chest. Finally, he looked up again.

"Thank you," he breathed out, smiling crookedly at Sirius, then at Remus. His godfather got up from the bed and Harry went over to give him a long hug. "Thank you," he repeated.

"You're perfectly welcome, Harry."

He withdrew, smiled at Harry, then stepped aside.

"I'll better go to the kitchen and have a look if somebody is already seeing to dinner, how about that?"  
Before anybody in the room could protest, he had already left. Remus got up as well and looked a bit helpless.

"If nobody is downstairs and he starts using the stove, we're doomed."

Harry just shook his head and stepped up to his former teacher. He just wanted to give him a hug as well when he noticed that Remus was keeping his hands folded behind his back, just as if he was trying to keep them out of sight. He had been sitting with his hands hidden in the sleeves of his robes for the entire time the two adults had been in Harry's room, and the behaviour made him slightly suspicious.

"Remus?"

"It's nothing, Harry." Remus shook his head, but did not protest as Harry pulled his left hand out from where he was hiding it behind his back, as if he knew that the teenager would not give in if he kept on hiding his hands. Harry drew in a sharp breath as he saw all the lacerations and blisters that ran along Remus' fingers and across his palms.

"What is this? Why didn't you get those treated? Does Sirius know about that?"

Harry looked up and was surprised to find Remus looking calmly back at him.

"I can't get them treated, nothing will work properly. They'll heal in a couple of days, it's all right. And yes, Sirius knows about that."

"But where do they come from?"

"From the pendant and the chain. Harry, that's what happens when a werewolf gets into contact with silver, but as I said, it will heal in a couple of days."

"Silver hurts you?"

Remus smiled softly. "I see that somebody didn't pay attention during his lessons on werewolves."

"Well, seeing that our regular teacher was sick that day and his replacement was less than likeable, it might be possible that I didn't really pay attention that day. I never started on the essay, either."

Remus chuckled, but his expression quickly became serious again. "Silver is poisonous to werewolves. You see, lycanthropy is like a virus. Once somebody has gotten infected, it stays inside the body, it spreads and causes small but significant changes which can make a werewolf recognisable even in his human form. The change of eye-colour, for example. And of course, it causes the transformations with every full moon, but its influence on the lycanthrope is a constant thing, nothing that only happens once a month. And this _virus_ reacts wildly when an infected person comes into contact with silver. Silver is one of the purest elements and materials known to our world. And lycanthropy is…well, I guess you could call it an impurity. Silver is too pure a material for a werewolf to handle. Just think of it as an allergy, if that analogy is more understandable. It's comparable to werewolves having an allergic reaction to silver, though it's not entirely the same principle. But the outcome remains the same. Skin contact with silver causes burns." He stretched out his hands and for a moment looked at the blisters and small lacerations. "Silver in the bloodstream, however, is another matter entirely. Depending on the dosage, it's lethal."

Harry swallowed and continued to stare at Remus' wounded hands.

"But why did you do that? If you knew that it hurts you, that it's even dangerous to you, why didn't you let Sirius handle the silver? Or why didn't you just take some other material, anyway?"

"Silver has a very strong magical quality. It's actually the best material you can get to weave magic into. Due to it's purity, it is very receptive for all kinds of magic, especially protective magic. And I needed to handle the silver myself for what Sirius and I did. The whole point about the pendant was to use our blood bond to protect you. We needed to weave both our magic into the pendant, so that a part of our magic remains with you to protect you, even if we're not physically present. For that, we both had to touch it. As I said, it will be all right in a couple of days."

Harry realised that he was still holding Remus' hand in his own. He released it and watched him insecurely for a moment. Remus lightly put his hands on the teenager's shoulders.

"It's all right, Harry. It really is. I knew what I was doing. It wasn't dangerous, it was a calculated risk. It's all right."

Harry looked at him for another long moment, then he made a step forward and wrapped his arms around him.

"Thank you. You needn't have done that, not if it hurt you, but I'm glad you did. Thank you."

Remus wrapped his own arms around Harry and held him tightly. "As Sirius said, you're perfectly welcome." He drew back after a moment and smiled at Harry. "Now we should maybe look what your godfather is up to and stop him before he blows up headquarters."

He put an arm around Harry's shoulders and steered him out of the room.

They were lucky. Molly Weasley was already in the kitchen and seeing to dinner by the time Sirius had come down, so they didn't find the room in ruins but were rather greeted by the pleasant smell of stew upon their entry. Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table, absorbed in the Daily Prophet, and while Remus started setting the table, Harry sat down next to his godfather.

"Anything new?"

Sirius folded the paper and put it down.

"Nothing that we don't already know of. Things would look really grim if we had to get our news from the Daily Prophet, kiddo. But there have been no further attacks, nothing of that sort. Tomorrow you'll be safely back at Hogwarts, then I'll be a bit more relaxed." He turned and smiled grimly at his godson. "Though I whish we'd have had some more time to spend with each other."

Harry saw another round of apologies coming and quickly put a hand on Sirius' arm.

"It's all right, Sirius. Just promise me you'll be careful with what you do, then it'll be all right. And unlike most other parents, you can always come and visit me at Hogwarts. I don't think anybody would mind."

"No, probably not. Still, doesn't mean a godfather can't miss his godson, right?"

Harry grinned, not really willing to admit how much those words meant to him. "Right."

At that moment, the door to the kitchen opened and Ron, and Ginny entered, followed closely by Tonks. They all crowded around the table, sat down and amongst their chatter, there was no more time for Harry and Sirius to talk. Instead, they ate their dinner with the others, chatting with each other. There was a general excitement about going back to Hogwarts in the room. Harry and his friends of course wanted to see their housemates and friends at school again, and especially the Weasleys would be glad to see their two youngest safely back at the castle. There had been no further Death Eater attack since that first warning strikes, but that didn't mean nothing would happen anymore. On the contrary, anticipation was rising again as to what their next move would be. Severus Snape had hardly ever been to headquarters over the past weeks, too wrapt up had he been in establishing old contacts in the small hope of finding out more about the Death Eaters' plans. It was dangerous for Snape to involve himself too deeply with the Death Eaters again, he was regarded a traitor, but still he was their only contact person who could find out just a little bit about Voldemort's plans.

But those thoughts could not dampen the mood in the room tonight, at least not for the teenagers in the room. Sirius was sure that Remus was also brooding about the war for most of the day, but the way he was chatting now with Tonks and Ginny did not reveal any trace of such thoughts. Sirius shook his head and chased the uncomfortable thoughts away. It was Harry's last night at Grimmauld Place, and given how little time he had had so far to spend with the teenager, he most certainly would not spend it brooding about the war.

Sirius got up from his chair, went over into the pantry and fetched one of the casks of Butterbeer he had organised earlier that day. Molly had thrown him a sharp glance as he had deposited them in the pantry, but Sirius had refrained from saying anything to her. He knew that everybody seemed to be glad that he wasn't dead, but his and Molly's story went a long way back, and by now he believed it to be rather impossible for them to ever reconcile entirely. Molly was very territorial where Harry was concerned, and while Sirius would be eternally grateful for what she and Arthur had done for Harry, he was his godson and not hers. She would – however grudgingly – have to accept that it was Sirius who was making the decisions about Harry's life until he came of age, and he knew already that he would treat certain matters differently than Molly would have done. Like handing out Butterbeers all around on the evening before school started. But she'd simply have to live with it.

Sirius might not be the perfect role model, and he certainly didn't have the experience of raising seven children that Molly had, but he was no complete idiot. He knew that he might have a hard time saying no to Harry, or making decisions the teenager would only grudgingly accept, but he'd cross those bridges when he came to them. Right now, it was important to him that Harry enjoyed himself, and that he was safe from harm. Maybe Molly was right and he had tried to be more than a friend for Harry than a guardian and role model so far, and most probably he'd have to try and change that, but Molly would have to learn that this was something he'd have to grow into. He wasn't used to be responsible for somebody else, and he wouldn't have much time before Harry came of age to get used to it, but he was convinced that the two of them would manage. If Molly wanted to help him, he had nothing against it. He knew that she cared about Harry and that Harry cared about her and her entire family. But Molly had a way of offering help that it seemed like she was trying to tell him he did it all wrong and she knew how to do it right, and that was something Sirius could not deal with very well.

But he pushed those thoughts away and resolved to enjoy this evening. So he carried the Butterbeer over towards the table and put it down, opened a round of bottle with a wave of his wand and sat down on a chair next to Harry. The teenager interrupted his Quidditch-conversation with Bill to take in the freshly appeared Butterbeer and flashed Sirius a smile. Sirius grinned back, handing out bottles all around. And then he settled on doing what he had wanted to do all evening – enjoying himself.

The only person missing was Hermione. Sirius wasn't sure whether Harry, Ron and Remus had told him the whole story as to why she was no longer staying at headquarters, but he knew that the reason for her leaving had been more than just the desire to spend more time with her family. Sirius knew that Hermione was angry with Harry and Ron for bringing themselves into such a danger in the attempt to bring Sirius back, and he could understand that she didn't want her friends to go around chasing risks. There had also been something about a storage closet, and while nobody had ever explained in detail to Sirius what _that_ had been about, he had a very good idea what could have happened.

Sirius didn't like the idea that Harry, Ron and Hermione were fighting because of him, yet he also knew that in a friendship as strong as theirs, they would be able to work things out eventually. And if it didn't work out soon, Sirius would pay them a visit at Hogwarts and have a talk with Hermione. And even though Hermione was missing from their round tonight, Sirius finally decided to stop all brooding and enjoy this evening as much as he could.

It was close to midnight when the crowd in the kitchen finally began to disperse. Those who didn't live at Grimmauld Place went home or – in case of Tonks – to work a night-shift at the Ministry, and while Remus and Molly cleaned away the empty bottles, plates and glasses, Sirius leaned back in his chair and threw a sideward glance at Harry.

"All set to leave tomorrow?"

Harry nodded. "My trunk is packed, I've done all my summer assignments, short of stuffing Hedwig into her cage there's nothing left for me to do."

Sirius was sure that Harry had had one Butterbeer too much, otherwise he'd have never said something like _stuffing_ Hedwig into her cage. There wasn't much alcohol in Butterbeer, so Harry could not be truly drunk. Maybe a little tipsy, but as Sirius was fairly sure that he'd manage to drag himself out of bed the next morning, so he didn't worry overly much about it.

"Made the final decisions on your classes?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I wanted to wait until tomorrow. You know, comparing classes with everybody else on the train."

Sirius smiled. Of course he knew. He had not been much different before his sixth year at Hogwarts. Of course planning for the future was important, but sitting in boring courses without anybody one liked was not exactly perfect, either. Harry's owl-results had arrived a few days ago, along with a list of possible classes he could take next year. Sirius had been very content with Harry's results. Aside from Potions, he had received exceeding results. And even his potions grade had not been overly bad, considering that Harry positively detested the subject. And the teacher. Which had led to the teenager's first resolute decision about which courses he'd take. No more potions classes.

Of course, Snape would only take those students with the best results, so Harry had not been amongst the chosen ones, anyway. In the end, Harry, Remus and Sirius had sat down and had discussed his choice of classes for the next term. Harry's results in Defence Against the Dark Arts had been the best in the entire year. Seemingly, his mastering of the Patronus Charm had left quite an impression on everybody responsible for grading. It had not been a difficult decision for him to add advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts to his schedule the next year. He had been equally sure about Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Herbology. Potions had been out of question for him, and he had not been sure about whether or not to keep Divination or History of Magic, either. Remus had been very insistent on Harry keeping History of Magic. In fact, for reasons not apparent to Harry, he had started to lecture at length about the importance of the subject. Afterwards, Harry had been willing to keep it, boring as it might be, but there was the little matter that he actually couldn't continue History of Magic, anyway. He had failed his O.W.L., spectacularly at that, because he had fainted not even halfway into the examination. But even that argument had not been able to deter Remus from his course, he had insisted that Harry have another talk with Professors Binns and McGonagall that he might repeat the test. Harry wasn't overly excited about that idea, but he had settled on agreeing to Remus' suggestion, mainly to stop his former teacher's rant. Whether or not he'd truly have that conversation once he came to Hogwarts was another matter entirely.

For now, Harry had settled firmly on his best O.W.L. classes - Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration, in addition to Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Astronomy. But the final decision he chose to make on the train ride the following morning.

"Just keep in mind what you want to do after Hogwarts, then things should fall into place."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, though not as thoughtfully as he might have without all the Butterbeers he had drunk. Only the previous evening, he and Sirius had had a long conversation about his possible future after graduating from Hogwarts. Both had not once mentioned the fact that it could be futile to think about it, anyway, with Voldemort on the loose and a war pending over them only waiting to strike. Instead, they had discussed the matter as if there was no Voldemort, as if the danger that Harry would not survive whatever the Dark Lord had planned was not real. Despite of Dolores Umbridge's remarks during the past school year, Harry had not given up on his plans of becoming an Auror, so Sirius had given him a little insight into what becoming one looked like. It wasn't as easy as Harry had imagined it to be. Everybody who applied for becoming an Auror had to pass a basic test in skills and knowledge, something which Sirius had described as _the easy part_. Those who passed that test entered Junior Auror Training, a period of two years during which they learned all the theoretical and practical skills they would need in their further line of work. Of course, practical knowledge was what counted most besides tactics, but depending on specific talents one could specialize later on. Like Tonks. With her abilities as a Metamorphmagus, she was of course specialised on disguise work, where she excelled.

It had been a very serious conversation about the good sides and also the dangers of being an Auror, especially when out in the field, but it had been very informative as well. And it had served to firm Harry's plans of joining the Ministry once he had graduated from Hogwarts. Not that his own experiences with the Ministry were positive, on the contrary, but the best way to change something was to get involved in it. It was a choice Sirius could live with, and even one he seemed quite proud of.

There was only one problem about it. According to the Career Advice last year, Potions was an obligatory N.E.W.T. subject for an Auror. Snape would only take students with an _Outstanding_ in his N.E.W.T. classes, and while Harry's grade of _Exceeds Expectations_ had more than just exceeded his own expectations, it simply was not enough for continuing with the class. That was a problem even Sirius had not been able to present an answer to.

But now, in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place, the thought that there could be a life after Hogwarts seemed far away for everybody, anyway. The dishes and bottles were cleared away, Hermione, Ginny and Molly had already gone to bed, and Harry was also leaning back in his chair, stretching and yawning heartily.

"Time to call it a day, don't you think?"

Harry scratched his head and yawned again. "I think you're right. When do we leave tomorrow? And how do we get to King's Cross, anyway?"

"We'll leave at ten, so rest assured that I'll throw you out of bed if you're not up by half past eight. Considering the public admission that Voldemort is back, the Ministry has agreed to send two cars which will bring us to the station. One can never be too sure these days, unfortunately. The cars will be here at quarter past nine."

Harry nodded, stifling another yawn. "All right. I'll go to bed. You coming, Ron?"

Ron, who had been sleepily staring into the fireplace, looked up and nodded. "Yeah, as soon as I think I can move again."

Harry chuckled and shook his head. They had all eaten a very good dinner, and the Butterbeer had been the final thing to make everybody a bit drowsy, and Ron downright lethargic. Harry got up from his chair and clasped Sirius' shoulder in passing.

"Good night, Sirius."

"Good night, Harry. Good night Ron."

Ron only nodded as he slowly, ever so slowly, got up and followed Harry out of the kitchen. Sirius looked after them as they left, then he got up from his chair, extinguished the fire in the fireplace and in the hearth, made sure that everything was ready for the night, locked the front door and went to bed himself.


	2. Departure

**Chapter 2 – Departure**

Harry was up at a bit past eight the next morning. He didn't suffer any after-effects from the Butterbeer – fortunately – and after a shower felt ready to face the day. Ron on the other hand wasn't as lucky. Ron was a deep sleeper on a good day, and combined with a good dinner and some Butterbeer, this only made it worse. Harry tried to wake him twice, but all the reaction he received were some grunts one might have expected from a hibernating bear, nothing else. Harry packed the last of his clothes into his trunk and was just about to go down and have breakfast when there was a knock on the door and Sirius came into the room. He looked at Harry and wished him good morning with a grin on his face, then he looked at Ron and the grin widened even further.

"You tried to wake him?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, without any effect, though."  
The grin on Sirius' face widened to a downright scary degree as he nodded and left the room again, only to come back a moment later with a bowl with water in his hands. He grinned at Harry once more, then stepped up to the bed and without further preamble emptied the contents over Ron's head. Ron immediately sat bolt upright in his bed, spluttering and snorting, his entire head and shoulders dripping wet, and water running in small rivulets out of his hair and down his nose.

"What…where…who…?"

His eyes strayed wildly around the room, settling first at Harry, then at Sirius, at the empty bowl in Sirius' hands and back at Sirius's face. Harry could literally see the gears shifting in Ron's head until he finally understood what had happened.

"Have you completely lost it," he asked Sirius as soon as he had found his voice again, all the while frantically trying to wipe away the rivulets of water that ran from his soaked hair all over his face. Sirius only grinned down at him.

"The only way to wake you up, it seemed, sorry. But we need to get going, all the others are up already."

Ron glared at Sirius for some moments longer, then he grunted something and threw back the covers.

"All right, all right, I'll get up. It's not as if I could keep lying in that soaked bed for any longer, anyway."

Grunting some more, he picked up some clothes and vanished into the direction of the bathroom. Sirius watched him retreat with a huge grin on his face, then he turned towards Harry.

"There's one thing I wanted to ask you yesterday, but I forgot about it."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I know that all the worrying about your safety is downright annoying, but unfortunately it's necessary. Which is why I want you to have your two-way mirror with you whenever you're not inside the castle. The pendant we gave you yesterday is an assurance, but the mirror is far better for communication."

Harry didn't quite know what to say to that. The two-way mirror had been lying wrapped up at the bottom of his trunk ever since he had smashed it after the unsuccessful attempt to contact Sirius with it after his godfather had fallen through the archway in the Department of Mysteries. And in all honesty, he had not spend a single thought about it ever since then.

Sirius, however, misinterpreted his godson's silence as hesitation and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I know it's annoying, but you'd do me a real favour. I'd be far more at ease if I knew that I can contact you at any time."

"It's not that, Sirius." Harry went over to his trunk and opened it, carefully putting the folded clothes and all other contents onto the bed until he had reached the bottom of the trunk. "It's just…after you fell through the veil, I tried to contact you with the mirror. I don't know why, I just thought it might work. But then it didn't, and I got really frustrated and…well…" He held out the mirror to his godfather, the glass shattered in its frame. "I'm sorry, but I was so angry that I couldn't reach you."

Sirius looked at the shattered mirror for a second, then up at his godson's distraught face. "It's all right, Harry. No harm done, at least I hope not. Let me have a look at it."

He took the mirror, put it on the desk and studied it for a short moment. With a quick movement, he pulled out his wand and waved it over the surface of the mirror.

"_Reparo_!"

As Sirius drew his wand along the cracks in the mirror's surface, they visibly melted and repaired themselves, leaving a smooth reflecting surface behind. When Sirius handed the mirror back, Harry could not discern any difference as to how it had looked before he had smashed it.

"Thank you. And it still works?"

"Only one way to find out."

Sirius reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out another mirror that looked just like Harry's own. He looked into it, and suddenly Harry found his godfather's face grinning at him from the mirror he held in his hand.

"Works fine, doesn't it?"

"Can you see me as well?"

"Clear as day. If we weren't in the same room, you'd also hear me through the mirror." He put his mirror back into the pocket of his robes and quickly levitated Harry's clothes back into the trunk.

"You'll try to have the mirror with you when you're not in the castle?"

"Sure. And I'll take care not to break it again."

Sirius smiled and ruffled up Harry's hair. "As I said, no harm done. Now, all packed?"

Harry nodded and Sirius shut the lid of the trunk and levitated it out into the corridor.

"Now you only need to find Hedwig and _stuff_ her into her cage, then you're ready to leave."

Harry groaned. "I didn't really say that, did I?"

"I'm afraid you did. But don't you worry, I won't tell your owl that you said something like that. She'll never need to know."

Harry picked up the empty owl cage from the cupboard and turned towards the door. "I'll go and get her and Pig down from your mother's bedroom. Could you take care of the trunk in the meantime, please?"

"Sure."

Sirius levitated the trunk out into the corridor, and while he went downstairs, Harry went to Mrs. Black's bedroom to fetch the two owls. Hagrid had taken Buckbeak to Ireland some time ago, and ever since then Mrs. Black's bedroom had been turned into an owlery for the owls of the people residing at Grimmauld Place. There was an attic in the house, but from what Harry knew there had never been any thought about housing the owls there. Maybe it had been the Order's revenge on Mrs. Black for the constant cursing and screeching of her portrait in the hall downstairs. Harry knew that Remus had spent the past few days – when he had not been working on the pendant, obviously – studying the Permanent Sticking Charm on the portrait closely, but so far had not come up with a solution to get the portrait off. Passing Remus in the hall downstairs, Harry had once heard him mutter about _torching the blasted thing down_, but he didn't think Remus would follow through on that. Hoped he would not.

Harry reached Mrs. Black's former bedroom, opened the door and stepped in, as always trying to hide the smile on his face. The room was big enough to accommodate all the owls, and Sirius had been positively gleeful to see his mother's room being turned into an owlery, owl-droppings, mouse skeletons and all. Harry could share that sentiment, especially since all of Mrs. Black's furniture was still standing in the room, now covered in owl-droppings and other stuff.

Five owls were in the room when Harry opened the door, and he immediately spotted Hedwig sitting atop the old wardrobe. Pig was hanging upside down from the small curtain above the window, and Harry didn't even want to know why the little owl behaved like a bat. He opened the door to the cage, and Hedwig immediately spread her wings and gracefully soared down towards Harry. She landed on his outstretched arm first, hooting and giving his hand an affectionate nip, then she climbed into the cage. Pig took a bit more convincing, and after effectively plucking the tiny owl down from the curtain he was able to put him into the cage and leave the room again. Hedwig hooted indignantly about being locked up with the constantly unmannered Pig, but there was nothing Harry could do to help her now. He'd most certainly not let Pig loose here in the house, they'd probably never catch him again.

"Just for a few moments, Hedwig. I'll put Pig into his own cage as soon as Ron brings it down into the hall."

Hedwig hooted again, but she remained silent for the entire trip downstairs. Pig, on the other hand, was hopping around the cage excitedly, chirping and hooting as if he could guess that they were about to journey back to Hogwarts. Harry found his trunk standing on the floor in the entrance hall, next to Hermione's and Ron's. As nobody else was to be seen, he put down the cage and went down into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Harry," Mrs. Weasley greeted him as he came into the room. "Do sit down, you need to have breakfast before we leave. I only hope Ron hurries up a bit, we need to leave soon."

Harry sat down and did as he was told. There would of course be food on the train, but it might take another couple of hours after their departure before the witch with the food cart arrived, so a decent breakfast was perfectly in order on a day like this. Harry dug in, and as he had reached his second helping of toast, Ron came into the kitchen. He sank down into the chair beside Harry and reached for the bowl with porridge his mother had placed there for him.

"Awake now?"

Ron shovelled a spoonful of porridge into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Yeah," he said as he had swallowed. "Though I think your godfather really ought to reconsider his methods of waking up other people."

Harry grinned and finished his tea.

"I did try to wake you up before he arrived. But you just didn't react. Sorry."

Ron waved him off. "It's all right. It's just not a way of waking up which I prefer. Shouldn't have drunk that last bottle of butterbeer, though. Anyway, do you have any idea how we are going to get to King's Cross? I wanted to ask my father yesterday, but I forgot about it."

"Sirius said that the Ministry would send two cars to take us. Though why there's the need for two cars, I don't quite understand. We could easily fit into one, wouldn't we?"

Ron shrugged and quickly smeared some jam onto a piece of buttered toast before his mother, who was already busy clearing away the dishes, could take the jam away from him. "I'm not so sure. There's the three of us, you, me and Ginny. Sirius, obviously, then my parents, and I can imagine that Charlie, Bill and Remus will come along, just in case. Special protection, you know?"

He grinned at Harry, though it was without mirth. "I know you don't particularly care about it, but in public there's always a guard around you."

That Harry hadn't yet thought about, though Ron's words made sense. He remembered only too well the guard that had brought him to Grimmauld Place for the first time, after his fourth year at Hogwarts. And he remembered Remus' extreme caution in bringing him here last summer. Most of the times, Harry wished he could forget that the wizarding world out there didn't consider him just another ordinary teenager, yet obviously sometimes it slipped his mind.

"Ron, Harry, finish up. We need to get going, the cars are going to be here any minute now. Did you pack everything you need?"

Ron downed his tea and got up from the chair. "Yeah, everything's packed."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and turned towards Harry. "Everything packed?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, it's all in the hall already."

"Good, good, why don't you go and wait upstairs until everybody's set to leave. I have to go and see whether Ginny found her hat by now, she's been searching for it all morning. But remember to keep silent, I really couldn't do with that accursed portrait starting to screech to top this morning."

Harry and Ron obediently got up from their chairs and left the kitchen. Just as they opened the door, Tonks came down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully. "Ready to leave? The cars should be here soon."

"All's set," Ron said. "Are you coming with us to the station?"

Tonks smiled. "Yes, along with Bill, Charlie and Remus. As well as Sirius and your parents, obviously. I just need to make a quick floo-call, I'll be up in a moment."

And gone she was, so Harry and Ron quickly climbed up the stairs into the hall, followed by Mrs. Weasley. Sirius and Remus were already there, sorting through the luggage while Mr. Weasley was nervously looking out of the window that looked out onto Grimmauld Place. Hearing their steps, he turned around.

"Ah, there you are," he said as silently as possible. "Good, good. Dear, where's Ginny?"

Mrs. Weasley turned on the stairs. "I'll get her. She was searching for her hat, but if she hasn't found it yet, we'll just send her an owl as soon as it pops up."

Mr. Weasley nodded again, then turned towards Harry and Ron.

"All right, a quick word before the cars arrive. We'll go in two cars, each of which will have a driver and a Ministry Auror to guard us."

Harry frowned. "Why do they also send Aurors?"

"Well, everybody has been a bit on the edge lately. There's been no trace of You-Know-Who or any Death Eaters in quite a while, and the Aurors are getting nervous about what will happen when they show again. Besides, I can imagine that the Minister is still a little worried about Sirius here, or about what his sudden appearance in public might cause."

Mr. Weasley said this lightly, but Harry found no real mirth in his words. There had been reports on Sirius' innocence in the Daily Prophet, on the front page, to prevent the public from going crazy at the sight of him, but as Harry had seen during their quick trip to Diagon Alley two days ago, people might have read the article, but that didn't mean they really believed in what it said. Everybody had been very suspicious, hands on their wands, looking as if they were thinking about which curses to use in case Sirius decided to make the public announcement that he indeed was a demented criminal after all. Harry had not felt comfortable then, and the thought that the Ministry sent Aurors to either have an eye on Sirius or to calm the public when faced with Sirius didn't do anything to calm him, either.

Sirius seemed to sense what was going on with Harry, because he smiled encouragingly at him and put a hand on the hilt of his most recent acquisition – his new wand, also purchased during their outing to Diagon Alley. He had owned a wand during the previous year, Harry had seen him use it more than once, but when he had asked his godfather about it, Sirius had explained that it had not been a wand he had bought himself. Dumbledore had gotten it for him, and while it had worked quite well it had not been the perfect fit. The wand he had bought at Diagon Alley worked much better than the old one, at least that was what Sirius had told Harry.

Mr. Weasley didn't seem to sense Harry's discomfort about the presence of Aurors on their ride to the train station, because he left it at his explanation and continued where he had left off.

"You two will go in the firs car, together with Tonks, Bill and Sirius. Molly and I will follow in the second car with Charlie and Remus. Ah, and there they are."

Harry turned around to see Mrs. Weasley dragging a very unwilling Ginny down the stairs, her trunk levitated in front of her.

"Did you find the hat?" Arthur asked, and the expression on Ginny's face was answer enough.

"We'll send it to you by owl as soon as it shows up," Mrs. Weasley said. "It has probably ended up in one of the laundry baskets in the basement, and we really don't have any time to search through those."

Ginny made a face at her mother behind Mrs. Weasley's back, then went over towards Ron and Harry. Sirius had seen what Ginny had done and was trying to stifle his smile. Catching Harry's eyes, he reached into the pocket of his robes and withdrew a small leather pouch.

"Catch," he said, and at the same time threw it into Harry's direction. Automatically, Harry stretched out his hand towards the flying pouch, which landed with a faint, metallic tingle in his palm. Harry closed his fingers around it, feeling the shapes of coins shifting against each other under his grip. He raised an eyebrow at Sirius, who shrugged.

"For the train ride. I do believe that the witch with the food trolley still makes her rounds on the Hogwarts Express?"

Harry nodded, confusedly. "Sure, but you really don't need to give me anything."

Sirius winked, smiling. "That's the fun of it. I've got a couple of train rides to catch up on, don't I?"

"It's a new project of his," Remus fell in from beside Sirius. "He calls it 'catching up', and I think a lot of it implies spoiling you. Relax and enjoy it."

Sirius gave Remus a playful swat over his head, and Harry smiled at his godfather. "Thanks, Sirius."

Sirius just waved him off. "That's all right. Just enjoy the ride. Now, are we all settled? Who's still missing?"

"Bill and Charlie, they're still upstairs."

Just as Bill and Charlie came down the stairs a few moments later Mr. Weasley, again perched behind the window, announced that the cars had arrived. Shuffles all around followed as the teenagers picked up their animal cages and the adults started to levitate the trunks and heavier luggage.

"Where's Tonks," Remus suddenly said, and as if to answer that question there was the sound of something scraping across the floor downstairs, followed by a loud _thunk_! as something heavy fell onto the floor. There was a collective intake of air in the hall, and everybody swivelled around and turned towards the portrait of Mrs. Black, breath held in anticipation of her screeching. But the curtains in front of the portrait remained drawn and no sound came from behind them. Mr. Weasley released an audible breath, and gradually everybody relaxed.

A moment later Tonks came up the stairs, smiling sheepishly, one hand tangled in her pink hair.

"I stumbled over a chair. It toppled over and fell."

Harry thought what everybody was thinking – that Tonks had a tendency to topple over things, or knock things down. One had to get used to it.

Remus just smiled at Tonks and waved her off. "No harm done. Let's get going."

He turned and levitated Ron's trunk up again, but as Harry looked at Tonks he saw that a faint blush was covering her face, matching her cheeks to the colour of her hair. She hadn't been this flushed upon coming up the stairs, and Harry looked at her for a moment longer before shaking his head and turning away. It probably didn't mean anything. And even if it did, he certainly didn't understand it.

And there wasn't much time to think about anything, as a moment later he found Hedwig's cage pressed into his hands and as ushered out of the front door. It was like a scene from a bad muggle movie, really, with him hurrying down the driveway towards the waiting cars. Sirius was walking to Harry's left, levitating his trunk while inconspicuously keeping an eye out on the surroundings. Everybody was keeping an eye out, Harry noticed, just as if a herd of Death Eaters would suddenly materialise out of nowhere. And before he knew it, he was sitting in the spacious back of the first Ministry car, Ron and Sirius beside him, waiting while Bill and Tonks placed their luggage in the boot of the car. A moment later, the two joined them in the back of the car, the doors were closed and the car set into motion.

As Mr. Weasley had said, there was a driver in the front seat, and next to him a Ministry Auror was sitting in the passenger seat, turning around slightly upon the beginning of their journey.

"Good morning. Sorry for the delay, but the traffic is horrible this morning, entire streets are blocked and the traffic doesn't always leave us an opening to inconspicuously move ahead of the queues."

Harry checked his watch, realising that it was indeed already ten past ten. He didn't know how far it was from Grimmauld Place to King's Cross, but surely fifty minutes should be enough to make it to Platform 9¾ in time.

Sirius seemed to have similar thoughts. "But we'll get to the station in time?"

The Auror turned around again. "Without any further delays, we should be there in about twenty, twenty-five minutes. We even have time to spare, I wouldn't worry."

Sirius nodded, though to Harry it seemed as if the part about not worrying had been wasted on Sirius. Harry's godfather had not let his wand out of sight ever since he had bought it, and right now his fingers were straying towards it again, touching the hilt as if to reassure himself that it was still there.

The first part of the travel passed smoothly, but as they got closer into the inner city, Harry could see through the window that the traffic was indeed getting heavier. Must be morning rush hour, he thought, seeing that the Auror had been right and sometimes they encountered entire streets that were blocked with cars.

Whenever it wasn't possible to inconspicuously charm the cars ahead of the long queues of other unnerved drivers, the Ministry driver kept on searching for side routes and different lanes to take. Harry frowned, because even for a city as busy as London, this seemed like an awful lot of traffic. As he looked around the back of the car, he found that Sirius was looking out of the window, eyes darting to and fro as if searching for something, his wand held tightly in his right hand. A small ugly feeling took hold of Harry's stomach.

"Sirius?"

Sirius turned his eyes towards Harry and smiled at Harry. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?"

Sirius quickly shook his head. "Nothing. I just hope we'll get to the station soon. We're a bit late, and the traffic is horrible."

Harry checked his watch again. Twenty to eleven. "How far is it to the station?"

Sirius shrugged. "Depends on which route we take."

The Auror in the front seat turned around to face them. "We'll be going parallel to the river for a moment, then straight up to the station. At least that's the plan right now, from what I see the area around the river is blocked entirely."

That brought a frown to Sirius' face. "Any idea why that's the case?"

"No sir. But I wouldn't worry about it, London rush hour can get a little out of hand."

Harry could tell that this did nothing to calm Sirius, and he had to agree to his godfather's sentiment. He turned around to look out of the back window, and felt a little relieved as he saw the second Ministry car drive directly behind them.

"What's up," Ron asked as Harry turned around again.

"Nothing, I just wanted to…"

The words froze in Harry's mouth as there was a loud, rumbling sound, like a distant roll of thunder. Harry quickly looked out of the side window again. A group of houses blocked his view onto the river, but a huge cloud of smoke and dust was rising up behind them, darkening the morning sky.

"What is it, Harry?"

From his position with his back to the driver, Sirius had not been able to see what Harry saw, but upon Ron's words he turned around and looked out of the window. Sirens were wailing in the distance, yet Harry was entirely unable to tell when they had started to sound. Sirius immediately turned towards the Auror.

"What's going on there?"

The man just shook his head, and at that moment there was a knocking sound from the front of the car where the driver and the Auror were seated. Harry couldn't see clearly, but the Auror opened the glove compartment, and a moment later a muffled voice was speaking, too low for Harry to make out the words. But as soon as the Auror had closed the glove compartment again, he turned towards the driver.

"Stay off the main roads and get us to King's Cross as quickly as possible. Ignore the rule of staying inconspicuous in front of muggles if you have to, just get us to the station without further delay, if possible without stopping the car at all."

Sirius leaned forward in his seat. "What happened?"

"Ministry Order to bring you to the station as quickly as possible."

"Has that something to do with what happened down by the river?"

The Auror turned around and looked Sirius straight in the eye. "Something's going on up in Camden Town, though the Ministry doesn't know anything specific yet, but it must have started about half an hour ago. And now something has happened down at the river."

"What happened down at the river?"

The Auror shook his head. "I don't know anything specific yet, but everything is on alert. Suspected Death Eater involvement in both cases. We're right in the middle of it, and that means we'll have to get you into the station without any further delay."

Sirius' face had turned into an unreadable mask, but as Harry turned around he found that Ron, Tonks and Bill were all looking pale and worried.

"The other car knows this as well?"

The Auror nodded at Sirius' question. "Yes, they received the same instructions that we did. We'll arrive at the station in about five minutes, keep ready for a quick departure into the building."

Harry watched out of the window and saw in amazement how the car dashed through the streets, using spaces between other cars which were actually too small for the car to fit in. All the red lights suddenly turned green as they approached, and on side streets without traffic lights there was never any traffic coming to cross their way. Harry strongly suspected that there was more to being a Ministry driver than changing gears and reading maps.

But as if to mock them, as soon as they started their rapid approach to King's Cross, the sky opened its dams and it began raining. Not merely raining, water was pouring down from everywhere, and the car's wipers struggled to keep the windshield clean enough for the driver to see anything. Occasionally, an especially rough turn would send the car sliding across the pavement, effectively jolting Harry and the others around on the backseat, and after what seemed like a small eternity, Harry suddenly saw the station approach to their left. The brakes screeched, the car zigzagged towards the curb, and before it had even come to a complete stop, the Auror had jumped out, wand outstretched. Sirius opened the door only fragments of a second after him. The two men were scanning the street into both directions, and only then gestured for Harry, Ron and the others to emerge from the car.

Just as Harry got onto the pavement, the second Ministry car screeched to a halt behind them, and the procedure repeated itself. And Auror jumped out of the passenger-side door and quickly rounded the car, and at the same moment Remus got out of the car with his wand raised. Before Harry knew what was happening, he, Ron and Ginny were surrounded by adults and were being led into King's Cross station, Bill and Charlie coming after them with their trunks and animal-cages loaded onto trolleys. They had been out in the rain for maybe half a minute, yet still Harry's hair was soaked and his robes were wet from the rain.

They had been late, anyway, due to the traffic, but their hurry now had absolutely nothing to do with being late for the train. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Remus and Charlie who had been in the second car together with Ginny seemed to know as well that something had happened, or was still happening, and that at two places which weren't especially far from the station, and the only thing on their mind was to get onto Platform 9¾ as quickly as possible.

There were many muggles in the station that day. Probably, as this was a muggle train station, there had always been this many muggles here during Harry's earlier departures to Hogwarts, but today he noticed for the first time how many there were. And most of them seemed to know that something out of the ordinary was happening nearby. People were huddled in groups, a lot of them were talking on their mobile phones, gesturing wildly with their free hands as they spoke. Women and men kept their children close by them and ushered them to their respective platforms as quickly as possible, staying close to the walls and keeping an eye out for the nearest exit. Harry thought that with people being this nervous about what was going on, they were bound to notice the often strangely clad witches and wizards who were moving along the station towards platforms nine and ten, often pushing trolleys with trunks and owl cages in front of them. But if any of the muggles noticed, they didn't let it show.

Suddenly, Harry felt Sirius' hand on his arm and looked up to his godfather. Sirius was looking back, a grim expression on his face. "I don't like this," he murmured. "I want you to stay close to me, and do whatever I tell you to do."

Harry found himself nodding numbly. He didn't like this situation one bit, either, but he was glad that Sirius was here with him. He checked one of the huge clocks that hung around the station. Eight minutes to eleven. They needed to hurry. The closer they got to platforms nine and ten and the barrier that separated them, the more witches and wizards they saw. Some of them were still hurrying towards the barrier that would grant them entrance to Platform 9¾, but most of them seemingly had brought their children to the train already and were about to leave the station. Some of them stared as they recognised Sirius, but nobody said anything about his presence. Generally, nobody said anything, at least none of the people who were with Harry. Of course there was the usual background noise of conversation and mechanical sounds that occurred in a train station, but still Harry could hear the voice that suddenly came out of the speakers that hung everywhere.

"_The delayed 10.43 Express from Brighton, to Liverpool via Birmingham, is bound to arrive now on Platform eight. Passengers on Platform eight, please mind the arrival of the delayed 10.43 Express from Brighton to Liverpool via Birmingham._"

It was one of many announcements, something perfectly ordinary in a station like King's Cross, yet for some reason Harry turned his head towards Platform eight which they were just passing. People were crowding the platform, preparing for the arrival of the train and the unavoidable chase for the best places in the train that was bound to follow. But somehow, Harry had a bad feeling about this. And then he saw it. It was just a glimpse, a figure that vanished in the crowd as quickly as it had appeared, but Harry was sure that he had not imagined it. It had been a man in dark robes, the hood drawn over his face. Of course his eyes could have played a trick on him, with the rain still pouring down mercilessly, a lot of people on the platforms and in the stations had the hoods of their jackets drawn over their heads, but Harry was pretty sure that he wasn't mistaken. His breath caught in his throat and he stopped short, standing on tip-toe and trying to get another glimpse at the figure he had seen for mere fragments of a moment. It couldn't be, yet he was so sure that he had seen a Death Eater on the platform.

Sirius was still holding on to Harry's arm, and when he realised that his godson had stopped, he tightened the grip of his hand and stopped as well.

"Harry? Come on, we need to get to the train."

His voice was nearly lost in the sound of the approaching express train from Liverpool, so Harry emphatically shook his head and continued to stare out at Platform eight. Sirius followed his gaze, his free hand gripping his wand more tightly.

"What's wrong?"

"I thought…I'm not sure, but I think there was a Death Eater on the platform."

Sirius didn't say anything, but the expression on his face changed from one second to the next. His brows drew together and his lips turned into a thin white line while his eyes restlessly scanned the crowd.

"Remus," he called without looking away from the platform. Remus had continued towards Platform nine together with the others, but upon hearing Sirius' voice he stopped and retraced his steps towards them.

"What's wrong?"

"Take Harry to the platform, will you?"

Remus nodded and reached for Harry's arm to pull him along, and Harry already opened his mouth in protest when suddenly there was a flash of blinding white light from the far end of the rails on platform eight. With lightning-quick reflexes, Sirius grabbed Harry by the shoulders and pressed him down to the ground, shielding him with his own body and at the same time raising his wand and scanning the crowd.

Within moments, platform eight erupted in chaos. People were screaming, stampeding around, across and over each other in a desperate attempt to escape from the source of the explosion. With an effort, Harry turned his head and looked at the platform. Something was wrong there. Not only the people who were trying to leave the station, there was something weird about the rails. The blast hadn't been _on_ the platform, it had been on the rails. And the express train to Liverpool was pulling into the station. And even though the train was slowing down, it would still be too fast when it hit the blasted section of the rails…

Suddenly, Harry found himself hurled to his feet by two strong pairs of hands, and with Remus to his left and Sirius to his right was physically dragged into the direction of platform nine. He didn't think that he was even walking, Sirius and Remus were literally pulling him along. They were rapidly approaching the barrier that separated platform nine and ten, but all Harry could see were fleeing people, screaming people, people ducking for cover. He saw no trace of Ron, Ginny or the others with whom they had arrived, but as they got closer to the barrier, Tonks stepped out of it, her wand drawn and half-raised in front of her. As she hurried towards them, there was a huge crash behind them, followed by a horrible screeching of metal on metal at a fast speed, and the screams all around them increased in volume and intensity. Harry tried to turn his head, tried to see what was happening though he knew that the express train had reached the break in the rails and had derailed, but Sirius and Remus were holding him firmly and he couldn't move. Tonks increased her pace and ran the remaining distance towards them.

"The Platform is clear, the others and the luggage are already on the train. It'll leave any moment, we need to get Harry on board."

Suddenly she cocked her head and her eyes narrowed, as if she had seen something behind Remus' shoulder, and the fragment of a moment later, the greenish glow of a curse gone awry shot past Sirius' head. It was rapidly followed by another, and another, and now neither Sirius nor Remus cared about Harry's comfort for any longer as they pulled him along towards the barrier as quickly as they could while Tonks was providing cover for them. Harry finally managed to turn his head and saw a group of people in dark robes storm towards them, wands outstretched.

"Get Potter," one of them bellowed, and that one sentence only served to speed Remus and Sirius up even more. But suddenly, Sirius released his hold on Harry's arm and in wordless understanding Remus tightened his grip on Harry and continued to drag him along the station. Harry turned around, tried to see what his godfather was doing, but all he could see were flashing curses and Sirius' back as he and Tonks interposed themselves between the approaching Death Eaters and started firing curses of their own towards them.

"Sirius," Harry yelled and struggled against Remus' hold, but his former teacher had a very good grip on him. Just before they reached the barrier between platform nine and ten, the two Aurors who had accompanied the Ministry cars emerged and, without paying any mind to Harry and Remus, immediately stormed over towards where Sirius and Tonks were facing the Death Eaters.

"Remus, get Harry to the platform and seal the barrier," Sirius' voice called from the distance, and before Harry could even form words of protest, Remus was pushing him through the barrier.

"Get on the train, Harry. We'll be in touch."

And suddenly Harry found himself standing on the nearly empty and incredibly calm Platform 9¾, where the Hogwarts Express' scarlet engine stood steaming and hooting, announcing the immediate departure. Harry turned around and threw himself at the wall through which he had come, wand clenched tightly between his fingers, but the wall was solid and wouldn't yield.

"Let me through," he yelled, pounding his fists against the concrete, knowing that he probably wouldn't be heard on the other side, "Sirius! Let me through!"

"Harry," a voice said, and a pair of hands turned him around. It was Bill, and he was gently but determinedly leading Harry towards the train. "You have to get on board, the train will leave any moment."

"But I need to get back. There were Death Eaters in the station, I need to get back!"

Bill shook his head. "No, you need to get on the train. You'll be safe there. The others know what they're doing, and the Ministry will be sending reinforcements as quickly as they can. Let them handle it, I'm sure it'll be all right."

Harry was still shaking his head, but he did no longer resist against Bill's attempts to manoeuvre him onto the train. He didn't know how to open the passage to the muggle station again, and if the others wouldn't let him out, he'd never get back to Sirius. Just as the train gave the final signal before the departure, Harry climbed the steps of one of the wagons, and before he knew what was happening, the train was moving out of the station, the door automatically shut close, and Harry could only watch how Platform 9¾ rushed past him, and then the train had left the station and was moving along the first miles of its journey to Hogwarts. Harry remained standing in the doorway for a long time, the strap of his is backpack clutched tightly in one hand and his wand in the other.


	3. Endless Journey

Chapter 3 – Endless Journey

Harry didn't know for how long he had been standing like this when a timid voice spoke up behind him.

"Harry? I head Ron say that something had happened in the station."

Harry turned and found himself facing Neville. It took a moment for him to tear his thoughts back into the present.

"There were Death Eaters in the station," he finally brought out. Neville paled.

"What happened?"

"They caused a train to derail. Listen, can we maybe go into a compartment? I don't want the whole train crowding around us."

Neville nodded. "Sure." He led them down the train until they reached a compartment to the left which he entered. Ginny and Luna were sitting next to the window, and Ron was nervously pacing up and down, at least as much as the limited space allowed him to. All three of them looked up as Neville and Harry entered the compartment.

"Harry, what in Merlin's name happened out there? I thought you had missed the train," Ron blurted out even before Harry had closed the compartment door entirely. Harry slid the door shut, then he put his backpack down on an empty seat and let himself fall onto another.

"There were Death Eaters in the station. I saw one of them on platform eight, and before anybody could do anything they caused an explosion."

"I heard that," Ron supplied. "But nothing afterwards, Bill and Charlie rushed us so quickly onto the platform that we didn't get to know what happened afterwards."

"There was an express train arriving on that platform. The explosion somehow damaged the rails, and the train derailed. I don't know what happened, I mean, if anybody was hurt. And suddenly, there was this group of Death Eaters behind us. They were there to get me, one of them even yelled it. I don't know, it all happened so fast. Remus literally dragged me onto the platform, and I don't know what happened after that. I don't know if anything happened to Sirius, Tonks or Remus. Or your family."

"I'm sure they're all right," Ron said, though his voice was slightly doubtful. Then he lifted his sleeve to check his watch. "Listen, I have to go to the front of the train, I'm supposed to be in the prefects' compartment. I'll let you know if I hear anything, maybe somebody else noticed something. Or I overhear Malfoy, I wouldn't put it past him to know something about what happened today."

Harry only nodded numbly, slumped down in his seat, and barely noticed as Ron left the compartment and closed the door behind himself. Yet Harry had the feeling of being watched, so after a few moment he raised his head to find Neville looking at him from wide eyes.

"What's wrong," he asked.

"Well, you said that you didn't know what had happened to Sirius on the platform. I…well, during the past days, there were all those stories about him in the _Daily Prophet_, and I wondered what had happened."

Harry stared at his friend, not quite grasping what he meant, until a few moments later he understood. There were only a few people who had witnessed Sirius fall through the veil, but Neville had been one of them. He had been in the Department of Mysteries that night, as well as Luna, and while Harry had worked on bringing Sirius back, those two must have believed him dead. The _Daily Prophet_ had reported about Sirius' supposed death, and had declared it an "accidental misinformation which had not been corrected," yet to Neville and Luna that of course must have seemed mysterious.

But where to start explaining?

With a sigh, Harry leaned back in his seat and looked first at Neville, then at Luna. "It's a long story," he finally said. "To make it short, he wasn't really dead."

"But he fell through the veil," Neville said.

"Yes. And he came back out again. There is a blood bond between him and Remus, and that made it possible to bring him back. It's not been entirely legal, it's been very complicated and nearly didn't work, but now he's back, and he's free."

Neville was looking wide-eyed, but Luna barely looked up from the latest edition of _The Quibbler_ she had been reading in for the past minutes.

"He had to come back from behind the veil before You-Know-Who turned him into one of the Inferi. And the Minister only agreed to free him so quickly because Sirius blackmailed him to reveal that the Ministry is breeding two-headed poisonous barbelmags in the Department of Mysteries. My Dad will run a report on it in the next edition."

Neville turned his head sharply, clearly torn between whether to believe her or not. Luna's father was the owner of the _Quibbler_, and while that fact had proven very helpful for Harry during the past year, it was also a paper that shouldn't be taken all too seriously. Last year, one edition had claimed that Sirius was in fact a rock singer, so Harry knew never to believe everything she said, but despite that knowledge he found his chin drop at her words. And while Harry firmly believed, from the little he had been told about Sirius' hearing, that a part blackmailing had been involved into speeding Sirius' pardon up a little, he was sure that it had nothing to do with two-headed barbelmags. Whatever those were.

"I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with Inferi and barbelmags. I doubt those even exist."

Luna just shrugged in a gesture that said clearly "suit yourself," and buried her face in the magazine again. Neville, however, had paled even further wand was slowly shaking his head at Harry.

"I don't know about barbelmags. But Inferi do exist."

"What are they?"

"Dead people. Dead people which You-Know-Who has called back. It was like that during the last war, and there are rumours that he has called them again."

Memories of the whispered voices behind the veil came back to him, memories of the horrible feelings that had threatened to suffocate him during his attempt to bring Sirius back, before Snape had taken over. Harry didn't want to believe that any of this had been real, he didn't want anything from there to become real.

"How do you recognise them," Harry asked in a tight voice. But Neville only shrugged.

"I don't really know. But my grandma said that you recognise one when you see them. But…well, if those rumours are really true, then they're surely going to tell us. At school, I mean. By the way, do you have any idea who our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher will be?"

Harry shook his head. "No. The only thing I know for sure is that Remus is not going to come back."

"Pity," Neville said with heartfelt emotion. Harry could only nod. Remus had been an excellent teacher, the best they had had so far. Especially Neville had enjoyed lessons with him, Harry knew that. Remus had been able what no teacher before him had managed – he had helped Neville raise his self-esteem. And with four out of five Defence teachers being complete failures, Harry's hopes for a really good teacher this year weren't really high.

A few moments later, Ginny left the compartment to seek out Dean Thomas. Harry wasn't even really listening when she told him, though there was something in her tone that challenged him to say something. His thoughts kept on drifting off to what had happened earlier at the train station, and the still unanswered question as to what had happened to his godfather and the other Order members at King's Cross. Staring out of the window, he watched the landscape brush past, not even noticing how the time passed.

When the witch with the food-trolley came by their compartment, Harry tore himself out of his reverie and bought some cauldron cakes, Bertie Bott's Beans, and chocolate frogs, but he only set those on the empty seat beside him and didn't touch them. Sirius had given him the money to buy food on the train, and that was the main reason why Harry had done it. Maybe later he'd be in the mood to enjoy it. If not, Neville and Luna could have them, right now he wasn't particularly hungry.

With Luna buried behind her paper, uttering only the occasional mutter or soft exclamation about something she read, and Harry in no mood for talking, Neville pulled out a herbology book and started to read. Silence settled over their compartment, and Harry stared out of the window at the landscape passing by. Not that there was much to see. It was slowly getting darker, but it was no real pity that the landscape was slowly vanishing from Harry's view. He wasn't in the mood to appreciate trees and meadows, anyway.

With a sigh, Harry turned his gaze away from the window and rummaged around in his backpack, finally pulling out the Quidditch book Ron and Hermione had given him for his birthday. At least that was better than staring out of the window.

Harry at first didn't even notice the sound coming from outside their compartment, he only looked up from his book when Neville got up from his seat.

"Look, there's an owl at the window!"

Harry quickly put the Quidditch book on the empty seat beside him, atop the cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs, and shot up from his seat, reaching the window even before Neville and opening it. There was indeed an owl fluttering next to their compartment window, hooting indignantly at the task of flying alongside a train for so long because nobody inside the compartment noticed her presence. In a flurry of feathers, the barn owl flew into their compartment and landed on an empty seat. There was a parchment tied to her leg, and she stretched it out for Harry to untie. He did, and as soon as the parchment came loose, the owl spread her wings, hopped onto the window, and a moment later was gone. Harry quickly unrolled the small, crumpled piece of parchment. It was Sirius' handwriting, Harry noticed with a loud sigh of relief, the scrawl even more untidy than usual, as if Sirius had been in a great hurry while writing.

_Dear Harry,_

_I don't have much time to write this, but I wanted to let you know that we all got back to Grimmauld Place safely. Tell Ron that his parents and brothers weren't hurt. There isn't time for details now, I'll talk to you later._

_Sirius_

Harry breathed another sigh of relief. Sirius was safe, everybody was safe. That was good. He didn't quite know what Sirius meant with _I'll talk to you later_, but in all probability he'd send a more detailed owl, or would call through the fireplace. Right now, he needed to find Ron and tell him that his parents and brothers were all right.

When he got up from his seat, he noticed that Neville and Luna were watching him attentively. "They're all right," he brought out. "I need to tell Ron that his parents and brothers are all right. And I need to tell Ginny."

Neville got up from his seat as well. "I'll go and search Ginny, she's probably with the other girls from her dormitory."

Harry nodded absently, then he left the compartment and went towards the front of the train. There was nobody on the corridor, passing the compartments Harry could see most of the students packing up their belongings in preparation for their arrival at Hogsmeade, some of them hastily putting on their school robes. Harry hadn't even noticed that they were bound to arrive so soon.

In one compartment he passed, the shutters were drawn and he could not look inside. In passing, though, he could hear a drawling voice which he only knew too well, though it was too muffled for him to make out the words. He stopped for a moment, thinking whether to listen in or not, but then decided to search for Ron first.

The prefect's compartment was right in front of the train, and as Harry approached it, the door opened and a couple of older students got out, nodding at Harry as they passed him. Ron and Hermione were still in the compartment, packing some pieces of parchment, quill and ink away in their trunks, at the same time engaged in a heated discussion. Harry lightly rapped his knuckles against the door, then, when they didn't react, knocked again more firmly. Both turned towards him, immediately stopping their conversation. Ron's eyes grew a bit wider.

"Harry, have you heard anything?"

Harry nodded and handed the small piece of parchment over to Ron.

"Sirius wrote an owl. He didn't say much, but it seems that everybody is all right."

Ron breathed a huge sigh of relief, and Hermione, too, gave a little sigh that told Harry that she had known what had happened, and that she too had been worried.

"Neville has gone to tell Ginny, I just thought you'd want to know. I'm sure Sirius will tell us exactly what happened as soon as he has the time."

"All right. And just to let you know, while you were enjoying your train ride, and the cauldron cakes from the witch with the food cart, we've been working here."

Harry had to suppress a grin. "Really?"

"It's not as if we were forced to study," Hermione said. "Just some preparation work for the next school year, things that needed to be done."

"Yeah, like discussing whether it's better for the Gobstone Club to meet on Tuesdays or Fridays. As if it wouldn't have been better to let _them_ decide that," Ron added grumpily and slammed the lid of his trunk down. "And now we need to go through the compartments, make sure that everybody's ready. We'll arrive at Hogsmeade soon."

Hermione left the compartment, but Harry held Ron back on his sleeve.

"What is it?"

"Did you see Malfoy during the train-ride?"

Ron sighed. "Of course I did. He's a Slytherin Prefect, remember? I've seen far too much of him today."

"Did he say anything? About what happened at the station, I mean. If his father was involved, I'm sure he might have known something about it."

Ron shook his head. "No, he didn't say anything. I mean, he was sneering whenever he looked at me, nothing new there, but he didn't say anything. Nor was he hinting at anything."

Harry nodded. "I think I'll just get my cloak and see whether he tells his friends anything before the train stops. I should have thought about that earlier, damn it. I'd have had the whole train ride to find out if he knew anything."

"Harry mate, you were worried about Sirius. Of course you didn't think about spying on Malfoy. And he was here with us until ten minutes or so ago, so you wouldn't have had much success, anyway. Just be careful."

"I will. I just need to know whether he's bragging with what happened at the station."

Harry quickly hurried back into his compartment, stuffed his book and the uneaten sweets into his backpack, opened his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak.

"What are you doing," Neville asked.

"I just need to have a look around without anybody seeing me. I'll be back in a moment."

Luna didn't even look up as Harry pulled on the invisibility cloak and vanished out of the compartment. Fortunately, Harry didn't encounter many students in the narrow corridor between the compartments and soon had reached the compartment from which he had heard Malfoy's voice come earlier. And just as he came closer, the door opened and Pansy Parkinson came out, one of her Slytherin girlfriends in tow. They were laughing about something, and Harry quickly pressed himself flat against the door of the neighbouring compartment to avoid colliding with them.

The two girls had left the compartment door slightly open, and, pressing against the crack, Harry was able to see Malfoy, sitting on the seat next to the window, facing Crabbe and Goyle. Harry's right hand automatically clenched tightly around his wand as he watched the blond Slytherin sneer arrogantly about something he was just telling.

"…and that mudblood really had the nerve to say that I was wrong. Can you imagine that? As if she knew the first thing about Quidditch, let alone how often there's the need for house practices. Were it not for that old fool running the school, people like her would not be allowed to be come prefects. They wouldn't even be allowed to enter the school in the first place."

Crabbe and Goyle looked at Malfoy for a moment, then they began to snicker monotonically, as if they thought Malfoy expected it of them. If they were thinking at all, Harry mused. So Hermione and Malfoy had had their first encounter during the term. He wondered why she hadn't told him about that earlier. but then again, she had been generally court with him. Which answered the question as to whether she was still angry with him.

But while it was interesting to hear how Malfoy was talking behind their backs, it was nothing new, and it definitely wasn't what Harry had come here to hear. If only he'd let something slip that would tell Harry that Malfoy had been in on the attack on the station, then there would be payback.

He was so wrapt up in his attempt to listen in on Malfoy and the others that he didn't hear the steps approaching from behind until it was too late. He tried to move aside, but at that moment somebody bumped into him from behind. Harry frantically reached for his cloak and tried to make it stay in place in hopes that he could somehow escape. But to no avail. He felt the fabric of the cloak being pulled away from his head, and then he was roughly pushed into the compartment.

"Look what I found lurking outside," a voice behind him hissed. Blaise Zabini. How could he have been so stupid as to forget the fourth Slytherin sixth year!

Malfoy sneered at Harry, and before there was even the slightest chance for Harry to react, Zabini had bent down and taken hold of his wand. Malfoy flipped his own wand around in his hand, as if undecided as to what he should do.

"Well, well. Potter's already starting trouble again, and the school year has not even started yet. What do you think I shall do, deduce points, give you a detention?"

Harry laughed harshly. "What, is it forbidden to walk around the train in an invisibility cloak? Or is this some kind of power-trip you're on? Must be horrible that Daddy didn't allow you to participate in this morning's exercise, isn't it? Does he think that little Draco isn't ready for it, or doesn't he trust you enough to go out and cowardly attack people together with the other Death Eaters?"

Harry didn't know where the words had come from, but all the anger about what had happened this morning was flaring up in him, all the worry that one of the people he cared for might have gotten hurt because of people like Draco, and now he didn't want to hold back that he suspected Draco of being in on what had happened. Let him know that Harry suspected him, see how he reacted.

But Harry had barely stopped speaking when suddenly the little colour vanished from Draco's face and he drew back a fist and punched it into Harry's stomach.

Harry doubled over, more from surprise than from pain. He hadn't expected Malfoy to strike him, the Slytherin always used Crabbe and Goyle for that purpose. But before he had the chance to contemplate this, another punch, this one much harder, hit him in nearly the same spot. Crabbe. Or Goyle, Harry couldn't tell for sure because he had his eyes scrunched shut, but actually it didn't matter. A moment later Goyle (or Crabbe) took a turn with him, again full force in the stomach. Harry didn't know how many blows they dealt him, but he did notice that they took great care only to hit him where the robes would cover up any bruises. It was over after a few endless moments, and while Harry was still doubled over in pain, Malfoy shoved him roughly towards the compartment door.

"Well, maybe today I'll leave it at that, without deducing points, Potter."

Goyle gave him a last forceful push in the back so that Harry found himself flung against the opposite compartment-door, and before he slammed the door to his compartment shut, Malfoy threw Harry's wand down the aisle. Harry only heard it clatter on the floor somewhere to his right, but he was too busy being doubled over, panting for breath.

It took a minute or two, then the pain had lessened enough so that Harry could straighten up again, though he did so slowly. A little farther along the corridor, as if Malfoy had thrown it together with the wand, lay Harry's invisibility cloak, and though bending down caused another burst of pain to shoot through his belly, Harry bent down and picked it up. Right, now he only needed to find his wand.

He located it near one of the train doors, and with a huge effort, retrieved it.

The way back to his compartment took him much longer than it should have, but Harry wanted to be able to at least walk normally before he faced Neville and Luna again. He would surely tell Ron and Hermione about what had happened, but he wanted to think a bit about Malfoy's strange behaviour first. And he didn't want the entire school to know what had happened.

"Where have you been," Neville asked as Harry entered the compartment. "You've been gone for quite a while."

"I've just been trying to find out what Malfoy's up to."

"Got to know anything?"

Harry carefully walked over towards his seat and stored the invisibility cloak in his trunk. His movements were deliberate and slow so as not to tear at his aching chest and stomach, yet Neville and Luna didn't seem to notice anything. Nevertheless, Harry was glad that the train was already slowing down for the upcoming arrival in Hogsmeade station, giving him a good reason not to sit down again. Instead, he picked up his backpack, knowing that his trunk and Hedwig's cage would be brought to the school for him. He'd not have fancied dragging the heavy trunk right now.

As the train came to a halt, Ron and Hermione joined Neville, Harry and Luna and they descended the train. At the end of the platform, they could see Hagrid's huge form looming against the lights, calling for the first years to join him for their journey across the lake.

"First years, o'er here! All first years t'me!" Seeing them, he smiled and waved a huge hand. "Aye, 'arry! How are ye? Ron, 'ermione, Luna, Neville."

"Fine Hagrid. We'll see you at the feast?"

"O' course. Just need ter bring the first years safely to ter castle. Until later."

"See you later, Hagrid."

They reached the carriages that would take the older students to the school. Harry was still a little disturbed at being able to see the Thestrals pulling the carriages. Knowing that only the fact that he had seen death enabled him to see them was highly disconcerting, and he'd much rather go back to believing that the carriages were moving magically, like everyone else did. Well, everyone else but Luna. Though with a quick sideward glance he noticed that Luna was not even paying attention to the animals. She was still holding her copy of the Quibbler, folded in the middle and reading one of the articles. She didn't even seem to notice with whom she was entering the carriage, though the three Hufflepuff seventh years who were with her did notice her.

Harry climbed into the carriage with Ron, Hermione and Neville, and while the carriages moved up the road towards the castle, they remained silent. Ron was eyeing Hermione, as if constantly debating whether to say something to her or not, but Harry's thoughts were somewhere else entirely. If Hermione was still angry with them for going to the Department of Mysteries, he'd tackle that soon, but not today. Today his thoughts were still revolving around what had happened this morning, and why Draco Malfoy had reacted so strongly when Harry had said the thing about his father not trusting him enough to be involved in a Death Eater attack. Maybe he had been wrong in his assumptions that just because Draco's father was a Death Eater, Draco would automatically be involved in or at least informed about everything his father did. Maybe Lucius Malfoy didn't tell Draco everything, and that was why Draco had reacted the way he had done. Maybe Draco wanted to be more involved, wanted to be considered his father's heir in every aspect, but somebody – Voldemort or Lucius Malfoy himself – didn't trust him enough. That was a thought worth considering.

"Harry, don't you come?"

Harry looked up, abruptly torn out of his musings. The carriage had halted in front of the castle and the students were busy getting into the castle.

"Sure, I'm coming."

He climbed out of the carriage as quickly as his still aching body would allow him. Most of the students were already inside the castle, so he and Ron hurried a little so as not to be the last to enter the castle. But just as they entered the Entrance Hall, a voice to Harry's right stopped him.

"Mr. Potter, a word if you please."

Harry turned around to find Professor McGonagall standing next to the doors, obviously waiting for him. Hesitantly, he turned towards her, heart beating fast in his chest. Had Malfoy said something about his sneaking around on the train? But that was a stupid thought, Harry knew. If Malfoy had decided to go to a teacher, then it would have been Snape, not McGonagall. And what should he have told her? That Harry had been sneaking around under his invisibility cloak? It might not be the most proper behaviour, but certainly not forbidden. But what if something else had happened, after Sirius had written that owl to him? What if there had been another attack, what if Sirius was hurt? Or worse?

"Professor?"

"Mr. Potter, I'd like a word in my office, if you please. You may go along into the Great Hall, Mr. Weasley."

Harry hadn't even realised that Ron was standing beside him. Now he looked from Harry to Professor McGonagall as if he hadn't understood her words.

"Well, off you go, Mr. Weasley."

"Erm, sure. I'll see you later, Harry."  
Harry only nodded numbly, but as he turned back to McGonagall, she was already walking towards the staircase.

"Please follow me, Mr. Potter."

Harry numbly followed McGonagall along the corridors and up the staircases until they reached the Transfiguration corridor. McGonagall steered towards her office and stopped in front of the door, waiting for Harry to catch up.

"Professor, did anything happen?"

McGonagall smiled quickly, then opened the door and gestured for Harry to step in. "There's someone here to see you. I need to get back down to bring the first years to the feast, you simply join us when you're finished here."

Still frowning, Harry entered the office, and before he had the time to ask another question, McGonagall had closed the door behind him. Still frowning, Harry turned around to his professor's desk, for a moment staring in disbelief at the figure sitting in a chair in front of it. But then his brain caught up with the situation, and he made a few quick steps forward.

"Sirius!"

Harry's godfather got up from the chair and stepped towards Harry, and upon seeing the expression on the teenager's face opened his arms and drew Harry close. Harry allowed Sirius to hug him, though his godfather held him so tightly that his ribs hurt where Crabbe and Goyle had hit him. After a few moments, Sirius released him, ruffled up his hair with a smile and sat down on his previously vacated chair, indicating for Harry to take the other chair. Harry did so, mindful of his bruises, but Sirius barely noticed. He was looking around the room with a smile on his face.

"Merlin, nothing in here has changed just one bit. I still remember all the times I had to be here to receive another detention from McGonagall."

He shook his head, then he turned back towards Harry.

"I'm sorry. About what happened this morning, I mean. But my sole thought was to get you safely on the train before those Death Eaters got to you. There simply was no time to think about anything else."

"It's all right."

Sirius shook his head. "No, it's not all right. Bill told me how you reacted after Remus sealed the barrier. I can only imagine what it must have been like, to be forced on the train without knowing what was happening. But I knew that Remus would bring you to the barrier safely, and I needed to hold those bastards off before they got to you. I'm really sorry about it." He shook his head. "Not the way I had imagined seeing you off to the train for the first time."

"Well, you hopefully didn't plan a teary goodbye-show on the platform or something equally embarrassing."

At that, Sirius smiled a real smile, for the first time since Harry had come here. "Well, actually I had planned on something like a good long hug and a few words about writing regularly and not getting yourself into any trouble, but now that you say it, the teary goodbye seems like a good idea for the end of the Christmas holidays. In spirit of the season."

"You wouldn't dare!"

Sirius laughed again. "Oh, there's much you don't know about me, I notice. I would dare, definitely. But seeing that I didn't get to do the hug-and-advice goodbye this time, I think that's good and well for Christmas. Parting on safe terms, for a change."

"Well, you did send the owl, at least I knew that everything was all right. But what in Merlin's name happened?"

Sirius ran a hand over his face, suddenly looking very tired. Harry noticed that he was wearing different robes than he had worn this morning, but other than some dark smudges under his eyes, there were no visible signs that something extraordinary had happened. Harry didn't have the impression that Sirius was trying to hide an injury from him, either, which was a relief.

"From what we know now, the Death Eaters had a very clever plan. A couple of clever plans, which in the end proved good for us, because their coordination was way off. They were trying to get you at the train station, and thought if they caused enough chaos there it would be easier to get through to you. That is why they caused the explosion to let a train derail."

"What about what happened at the river?"

"Their idea of a distraction, at least that's what we assume. They blew up the Tower Bridge in the middle of rush hour, and they attacked a muggle tourist market in Camden Town, a bit north of the station. Their idea of tying up the muggle authorities, and they knew that the Ministry would also immediately suspect that Death Eaters were involved. Probably thought that they were so busy figuring out what had happened there that no Aurors would be able to react in time to what happened at King's Cross. What they didn't think about was that there were Aurors with us already, and that the chaos they created would cause us to get to the station with delay. They had to improvise, didn't have much time to act because we were in a hurry to get to the train on time. And we were forewarned. So they didn't manage to get hold of you."

"What happened after the train left?"

Sirius shrugged. "The Death Eaters made a hasty retreat, apparated away as soon as they saw the chance. We couldn't arrest any of them, but the good thing is that there also wasn't a big spell shootout amongst the muggles. And most importantly, nobody was hurt. Remus got hit by a stunning spell, but he's all right, back at Grimmauld Place, brooding why he has to be the only one who got hit. There are yet absolutely no reliable counts as to how many muggles got hurt or died during the attacks. There have certainly been injured people at King's Cross, and to be honest I don't want to know how many died on the Tower Bridge."

He rubbed his face again, then shook his head. "It'll be in the _Daily Prophet_ tomorrow, at least some preliminary facts. I really can't tell you anything more specific yet. From what I know, Remus' brother is in charge of the investigations, so it might be a bit difficult to squeeze the details on this case out of him. All our people at the Ministry are at work right now, trying to find out why the Death Eaters moved today."

"Whether it was only because of me, or not?"

Sirius smiled and bent forward, squeezing Harry's shoulder tightly. "Death Eaters generally don't need a very specific reason to attack muggles. Maybe, and I say _maybe_, your leaving for Hogwarts was the trigger for their moving today, but it wasn't the reason why they carried out an attack like that. The reason has always been that Voldemort wants to rule our world. Voldemort's fate is connected to you, as little as you or I like that. But that doesn't mean you have to load the guilt for every death Voldemort causes onto your shoulders. That would be too much, it would only break you. Don't start this, promise me that."

Harry nodded, albeit reluctantly. Sirius obviously read the expression on his face, because he tried to smile at Harry, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"This has been looming over our heads for some time already, Harry."

"Doesn't make it better, though."

Sirius shook his head. "No, but it also doesn't make it your fault. What happened today is not your fault, and what will happen in the next couple of days and weeks won't be your fault, either. Voldemort has only one goal, and that is to take over our world. He'll use whatever opportunity presents itself to him. At least there is one piece of good news about what happened today, despite all the chaos and tragedy."

Harry frowned. "And what could that be?"

"Nothing that would make what happened any better, that's not what I mean. But the Death Eaters gave away a bit more about their situation through their action, at least more than we knew beforehand. They didn't know we'd be late for the train."

Again, Harry could only frown. "Well, it's not as if we made a public announcement, so what is that supposed to tell us?"

Sirius smiled sadly. "It means that whatever is going on at headquarters is still safe. They didn't know we'd be in Ministry cars, otherwise they would not have bothered to attack the train station, they'd have struck at the cars instead. Much more vulnerable, much less protection. The transport to the station was arranged yesterday, and nothing seems to have leaked. Which means that at least the people involved in planning the transport and the Ministry employees involved are trustworthy."

The lines on Harry's forehead deepened. "You're not suspecting anybody to be a traitor, are you?"

Sirius shrugged awkwardly. "Those are lessons we learned the hard way, kiddo. Should this war start raging, there are only a few people I trust implicitly, and everybody else is – well, not a potential traitor, but people whose words and actions I'll have to weigh anew constantly. War is a tiresome business, and not only because of the fear and the fighting. I hope you'll never have to experience that, but that's how it is." He pulled out his wand and twirled it between his fingers. "Though I'm afraid that you will experience it, so it's best to be forewarned. But anyway, you've had a long day and that's been quite enough serious talking, don't you think?"

"I don't mind the talking, it's only that I'm pretty close to a long and painful death from starvation, you know?"

Sirius laughed out loud, pulled his chair closer to Harry, bent forward and pulled Harry into a hug. Normally, Harry had learned to appreciate the occasional hug from his godfather, but in his current position, bending forward hurt his bruised ribs quite a lot. He must have made a small sound of discomfort, though he wasn't aware of it, because Sirius withdrew and looked him up and down.

"Are you all right?"

Harry quickly nodded. Too quickly, as he soon realised, because the concern on Sirius' face didn't vanish. Instead, he pushed Harry gently against the lean of the chair with one hand and with the other touched his ribcage on one side.

"What is wrong? You're in pain, don't tell me you're not. Were you hurt this morning? Why didn't you tell anybody?"

"It's all right, really. It didn't happen this morning, I got into a fight on the train. It's been my fault, but it isn't all that bad."

Sirius merely raised an eyebrow at Harry's words, then – much to Harry's surprise and also embarrassment – opened Harry's robe and began to pull up his shirt. Harry tried to bat his godfather's hands away, but Sirius only met his gaze calmly.

"Harry, no matter what you say, I am going to have a look at this. You can either help me here or have it the embarrassing way."

Harry searched Sirius' eyes for a moment and, seeing that his godfather was serious, took his hands from Sirius' wrists and pulled up his shirt. Harry couldn't see his own chest all too clearly over the bunched fabric of his shirt, but the look on his godfather's face spoke lengths about the look of his torso.

"Merlin Harry, what happened? That's one hell of a bruise."

"I got caught spying on Malfoy. I wanted to find out if he had known anything about what happened this morning, if his father was involved. I got careless, and Malfoy had his cronies punch me. It was my own fault, really."

Sirius surprised Harry again by pulling Harry's head towards himself until their foreheads were pressed together. His voice, when he spoke, was low, but very determined.

"Listen to me for a moment, all right? I know that Draco Malfoy is constantly the object of your suspicion. And probably a lot of what you think of him and his family is true. But his father being who he is, and given our momentary situation, this goes far beyond a normal schoolboy enmity. Even at Hogwarts, Malfoy is dangerous. I know that it's impossible for you to stay away from him, but avoid playing yourself into his hands. This time he only used you for punching, but I don't want to imagine what he'll do the next time. Try not to risk it."

Only when Harry nodded did Sirius release his hold and allowed Harry to lean back.

"And now you'll go upstairs and let Madam Pomfrey have a look at this. And all protest will be futile, because I most certainly won't let you walk around like that, not knowing whether you've got a cracked rib or not."

Harry sighed dramatically, but he got up from his chair obediently. "All right, all right. But she'd better hurry, I don't want to miss the entire feast."

Sirius got up with a smile and ruffled across Harry's hair.

"I'll tag along, if you don't mind. Maybe my word will count more than yours with Poppy and she'll not keep you overnight straight away."

Harry nodded and made move to get up, but then a pensieve look crossed his godfather's face which made him stop. As did Sirius' next words. "But then again, maybe my presence will only serve to have her examine you very, very thoroughly. I don't know if she still holds me in good graces, but I wouldn't bet on it. Too many stays in her domain during my own time here, and she hadn't exactly labelled me as one of her favourite and most obedient patients. That was Remus, in case you hadn't guessed. He always got the kind and friendly post-moon treatment, and I only got the lectures. I guess we'll just have to see how she reacts. Hopefully she doesn't think I did that."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Having a touch for the dramatic today, are we?"

Sirius playfully swatted Harry across the head. "Watch it, kid. I should be a person of authority for you."

Harry turned towards the door and opened it. "It's a bit hard to hold authority when you're threatening to give an Oscar performance the next time you'll bring me to the train."

He left the office, Sirius following suit, the look on his face one of startled confusion as he hurried to keep up with his godson. "Who in Merlin's name is Oscar?"


	4. Return

**Chapter 04**

In the end Madam Pomfrey released Harry after a quick examination, a few admonishing noises in the back of her throat, and the announcement that his ribs were perfectly all right, no thanks to him, and the gentle warning to be more careful the next time, lest he end up in the hospital wing for longer, and wasn't he here often enough already? The Hogwarts nurse _did_ look admonishingly at Sirius, though it wasn't a _I suspect you of having done it_ gaze but rather a _I would tell you to keep an eye on him, but the holidays are over, anyway, and besides, I know you and him only too well_-look, though there was a healthy dose of amusement in it, as well. Generally she seemed to have kept Sirius in far better memory than Sirius had thought. Harry found himself amused by it, too. Everybody except from maybe Ron's mother seemed to consider Sirius definitely capable of taking care of him, yet at the same time they all seemed to think that a certain degree of chaos in his life was unavoidable from now on. Well, Harry thought he could live with that. With the little experience he had so far, he could already tell that life with Sirius would never be boring. He was hoping for a certain degree of normal come Christmas, yet definitely not boring.

They said their goodbyes in the infirmary after Madam Pomfrey had left for her office again, and seeing that there was no audience to serve, Sirius did not practice for his Oscar performance. Instead he settled on giving Harry another hug, mindful of the bruises, and vanished through the fireplace. Harry waited until he had gone, then he left the infirmary and made his way down into the Great Hall. He desperately hoped that the feast was not yet over, after the relief to find that Sirius was all right, he only now noticed how hungry he was. The cauldron cakes were somewhere in his backpack, and Harry's mouth watered at the thought of the splendorous feast with which the start of a new term was always celebrated. He quickly checked his watch. A bit less than an hour had passed since his arrival at the castle. He had surely missed the Sorting, but probably not the feast.

Carefully, he opened the doors to the Great Hall, mindful not to make too much noise so as not to draw too much attention to himself. He needn't have worried, though. The Great Hall was abuzz with the conversation and chatter of the students as well as the sound of cutlery and dishes in use, and only the students closest do the doors paid any attention to his entry. Harry quickly made his way over to the Gryffindor table and sank down in an empty seat beside Ron. Hermione was sitting across from Harry's seat, but while he was approaching Harry had been able to see that she had been chatting with Lavender and had not paid any mind to Ron, who had been engaged in a discussion with Seamus and Dean. They all looked at him as he sat down in his chair, but before he said anything, Harry quickly reached for the food that stood closest and began to load a healthy portion of chicken and ham pie onto his plate. Food had a tendency to simply vanish here when Dumbledore decided to close the feast, and Harry needed something to eat now.

"And," Ron asked after a few seconds, obviously not able to contain his curiosity for any longer. "What did McGonagall want from you? She was back quickly with the first years, what kept you so long?"

"Sirius," Harry said between two bites of pie. "Could you hand me the potatoes?"

Ron did so, the questions still obvious on his face. "And," he repeated. "What did he say? Or don't you intend to tell us?"

"I will. But I haven't eaten since breakfast, I'd really like to get something in my stomach before the food vanishes. So, did I miss anything?"

Ron shrugged. "Not really. The sorting, obviously. We've got three new boys, and four new girls."

They had indeed, the seven new Gryffindors were sitting not so far away from them, seemingly torn between excitement, fatigue and a little bit of remaining fear as to what was awaiting them here. Harry only too well remembered that feeling from his first day at Hogwarts, yet looking at the new first years, he asked himself whether he had been this small upon coming here. He didn't have much time to contemplate this, however, as Ron continued to talk.

"You also missed the Sorting Hat's new song, but seeing that you heard last year's, you can guess what it was about. It was another variation of "I sort you into houses because that's my task, but you have to remember that only together you can defeat evil". Seeing that the hat had exactly a year to make up a new song, I'd say it was lacking a certain degree of inspiration and novelty."

Harry grinned. "Or maybe it thinks we haven't heeded its advice from the past year."

"Yeah, right. I don't have any problems working together with two thirds of the remaining houses, there's only one I can't imagine getting any closer to."

Harry snorted into agreement at the thought of combining forces with the likes of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle to defeat Voldemort. Though it did seem like an interesting experiment. Pretty much like using mice to clean out a house of rats.

With his stomach finally filled, Harry leaned back in his seat and allowed his gaze to drift around the Great Hall, and over towards the teacher's table. Hagrid caught his eye and waved cheerily, and Harry gave a small wave back. A few quick looks assured Harry that all the staff had returned for this year's classes. McGonagall obviously, sitting in her usual chair next to Professor Dumbledore, but all the others were there as well. Flitwick, Binns, Madam Hooch, Professor Sprout, and of course, Professor Snape. The tall Potions master and head of Slytherin House was sitting next to McGonagall, his plate with food untouched in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, and looking as sour as Harry had ever seen him. If that position was supposed to provoke some sort of reaction from his fellow teachers, they chose to ignore the hint and continued with their meal and conversation without paying any mind to Snape.

Next to Harry's least favourite teacher, the only unknown face on the teacher's table was seated, a tall blond man wearing midnight blue robes, who also didn't pay any mind to Snape's behaviour but instead was engaged in a lively discussion with Madam Hooch, laughing and gesturing as he spoke. Harry half-turned towards Ron, Seamus and Dean.

"It seems obvious that the guy next to Snape is our new Defence teacher, but has Dumbledore already said who he is?"

"No," Dean said, pointing his thumb discreetly over his shoulder to a group of fourth year girls sitting close to him. "But the swooning has already started. _He's sooooo cute. And sooooo handsome. Do you think I should learn a charm to curl my hair? Do you know how to spell my eyelashes longer?_ Merlin, this is going to become a hard year. Marigold Pillwinkle has already started talking about trying a new spell against her acne, and we all knew what a drama it was when the last one failed."

Harry snickered. "They haven't been here to see Lockhart. That would have taught them that looks can be deceiving."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me of Lockhart, please. That guy was a nutcase even before he ended up in St. Mungo's."

"Maybe this year it'll be better. I have to admit that I don't particularly fancy the idea of sitting in a classroom with ten swooning, sighing or snickering girls ever again, but maybe this guy proves to be a capable teacher, contrary to Lockhart. At least I hope they Dumbledore hasn't resorted to choosing the teachers by their looks."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Last year should have proven that he doesn't. Once we get a female Defence teacher, it's someone like that toad Umbridge. That's not exactly what I'd call fair."

Harry saw Hermione raise an eyebrow, a sure sign that she had a remark at the ready, but she chose to keep silent and pretended to be engaged in a deep discussion with Lavender. Before they could continue their conversation, the food vanished from the plates and at the teacher's table, Dumbledore got up and clapped his hands. The room fell silent as the students interrupted their chatter and turned towards the headmaster. Dumbledore beamed at the room for a moment, looking from one table to the next, then he began to speak.

"Another splendid meal starting what will hopefully become another splendid year at Hogwarts. I welcome all of you back, and I heartily welcome those who have joined us this year amongst us. However, before you all leave for your dormitories and some well-earned rest, there are a few announcements I have to make before the start of term tomorrow.

Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has urgently impressed the need of announcing once more that the use of magic on the corridors in between classes is strongly discouraged. Furthermore, he asked me to bring to your attention that there is a large number of objects students are not allowed to possess at the castle. An updated list containing now a proud one hundred and twenty-seven of those forbidden items in alphabetical order from _Acid Stinkers_ to _Zonko's Self-exploding Quills_ can be found posted on the door of Mr. Filch's office."

A snicker went through the hall and there was a twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes as he paused for a moment before he continued.

"On a lighter note, the first Hogsmeade weekend is scheduled for the last week of October, third year students should not forget to hand in their signed permissions with their heads of houses before that.

As you all know that Dolores Umbridge has left our staff at the end of the last year – which, I might add, also implies that all Educational Decrees installed under her are now revoked –I am more than glad to welcome a new staff member amongst our midst. I'd like to introduce Professor Dante Fairbanks to you, our new Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Applause sounded through the Great Hall, and Professor Fairbanks got up from his seat and gave a small bow before sitting down again. With quite some glee, Harry noticed that Snape's expression had turned even darker and more sour, though Harry would have thought that impossible only a few moments ago. When the applause died down, Dumbledore gestured for another moment of silence.

"We all know that the world outside is about to become increasingly dark and dangerous. Here at Hogwarts we are rather safe, but that doesn't mean we can close our eyes to what is happening outside the castle grounds. Knowledge and preparation is all we here can give you, and in these times we have to double our efforts to give you as much of it as we possibly can. There will be slight changes to the usual schedules, but that your heads of houses will inform you about tomorrow. For tonight, all there is left for me to do is wish you all a good night and pleasant dreams."

He spread his arms wide and the doors to the Great Hall opened. Ron pushed back his chair. "All right, time to get those kids up into Gryffindor Tower as quickly as possible. They can have the great tour of the castle tomorrow, I am tired. I see you upstairs, I guess. Password's _Bowtuckle_."

"Thanks", Harry said and got up from his chair. In all honesty he didn't envy Ron for the task to guide the new first years up to the dormitories. It always took some time, there was so much new to see in the castle that the children had to be reminded repeatedly to keep moving.

Harry was up in Gryffindor Tower in less than ten minutes, and by the time Ron and Hermione came up with the first years he had already changed into his pyjamas and was sitting on his bed. Judged from the look on his friend's face, Harry guessed that another encounter with Hermione had taken place, but in all honesty he was too tired to ask Ron about it. Besides, Ron didn't seem in the mood to talk about it right now, more in the mood to grumble lowly before he vanished behind the curtains of his four-poster. Harry said good night to the others, then he closed the curtains around his own bed and sank down on the mattress. So much had happened that day, yet as soon as his head hit the pillow, fatigue began to overwhelm him and within minutes he was fast asleep.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

The next morning, Ron's mood had improved remarkably, and not even the prospect of the upcoming classes could dampen it.

"Anyway, Snape said he'd only take the best students in his class. It's still a mystery to me that I haven't failed my Potions' O.W.L.s, but unfortunately "Acceptable" isn't enough of a good grade." He made a small jump in the air while walking. "No more Potions. And, even better, no more Snape."

He grinned at Harry and Harry found himself grinning back. "Yeah, no more Snape. No more dungeons, no more bat-like swooping, no more being shouted at, no more of his sour visage."

"Yes, and that is such a pity."

Snickering, they made their way into the Great Hall and sat down in their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. There was more activity in the Great Hall than on the evening before, students were bustling to and fro between the tables, talking about the past holidays or about the schedules that had been handed out by the heads of the houses. Just as Harry and Ron sat down and started on their breakfast, Professor McGonagall started making her round at the Gryffindor table, a stack of schedules in hand. The students of the lower years were quickly dealt with, but the head of house remained with the sixth years quite a bit longer, discussing their schedules and choice of subjects. She reached Harry and Ron a few minutes later and placed two pieces of parchment in front of them.

"Your schedules, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. Due to your O.W.L. grades, both of you cannot participate in Professor Snape's N.E.W.T Potions class. As for your other N.E.W.T. classes, you have to decide which to drop and which not, your options are marked on your schedule. From your O.W.L. grades, I don't see any subject which should pose a problem for either of you. However, I'd suggest that you, Mr. Weasley, make up your mind whether an _Acceptable_ is a good enough basis for continuing with Divination. However, this year Defence Against the Dark Arts is an obligatory class and cannot be dropped at all. If you have any more questions concerning your schedule, feel free to ask me."

Harry cast a quick glance down at his schedule. There was indeed no Potions class marked on it, to his eternal relief. He scanned the parchment to see if all the classes on it were ones he intended to take. Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy. So far, so good. Care of Magical Creatures and Divination took place at the same time, and Harry quickly picked up a quill and crossed Divination out. He had failed his O.W.L., anyway. There was still his promise to Remus that he'd talk to Binns and McGonagall about whether he could repeat his O.W.L. test for History of Magic, but just as Harry looked up at Ron to ask him whether he thought it would be a wise decision, his eyes fell on something strange on his schedule.

"Erm, Professor?"

McGonagall, who had proceeded a little down the table, looked back at Harry. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Have the Defence Against the Dark Arts periods been doubled? I have it on my schedule twice as often than last year."

"Me too", Ron fell in after a quick glance at his own schedule.

McGonagall nodded. "Those are the changes in schedule the headmaster talked about yesterday. All students from year four on will receive additional lessons in active Defence."

Harry frowned. "What's active Defence supposed to mean? Duelling?"

McGonagall nodded. "In part, yes. Obligatory, and in far smaller groups than during the few times that Professor Lockhart tried to teach during his duelling club. Hopefully also more long-lasting and successful. But it won't only be about duelling but about all aspects of defence and self-protection. I'm sure Professor Fairbanks will tell you exactly what he has in mind during your first lesson."

"All right, thanks Professor."

McGonagall nodded again and turned back towards the task of distributing the remaining schedules to the few students who had come late for breakfast. Harry quickly downed his tea. "Starting with Charms today, aren't we?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. We'd better go, otherwise we'll be late. I'm just curious as to what those additional Defence lessons are about."

"Well, the wait won't be all that long", Harry said after another glance at his schedule. "We have our first Defence class this afternoon."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hurray to the fawning and swooning."

"Maybe the girls from our class have grown out of that age."

Ron just looked at Harry, then shook his head and silently set off towards Flitwick's Charm's class. Before they had reached the door to the Great Hall, however, Harry was stopped by Katie Bell.

"Harry, a minute if you have it."

Harry stopped. "Sure. And congratulations on becoming team captain."

Katie smiled a little nervously. "Thank you. I honestly thought that McGonagall and Dumbledore would choose you, though."

Harry shrugged. He hadn't spent all that much thought on captaincy for their Quidditch team, and in all honesty he was glad that he didn't have to carry that responsibility.

"We need to hold tryouts soon, our first game is already in the middle of October. I'll put a notice up in the Common Room, I was thinking about holding the tryouts this Saturday."

Harry nodded. "Sure, I've got the time."

"Good. I seriously doubt that you'll have to try out, though. So far, nobody has approached me for the position of the Seeker. I guess nobody thinks the could stand a chance against you. However", she turned towards Ron, "there might be a tryout for Keeper. From what I've heard, Cormac McLaggen wants into the team."

Ron turned slightly green around the nose, at the thought of trying out for Quidditch. His career on the Gryffindor team had been marked by a number of ups and downs during the past year. Actually, it had been marked by a lot of downs and one big up towards the end of the year.

"Saturday all right with you, Ron?", Katie asked.

Ron nodded numbly. "Sure. Perfectly all right."

"Good, I'll see you Saturday at ten. And don't you worry, if you play the way you did during our last match, McLaggen won't stand a chance against you. He's in my year, and I can tell you that he's just a bragging idiot."

Katie vanished and Harry and Ron set out towards their Charms class.

"Yeah, and if I play the way I did during the matches before the last one, then I'll be the laughing stock of Gryffindor tower again."  
"Don't you worry about that now. I'm fairly sure that it'll work out. If this McLaggen truly was such a blast as a keeper, he'd have tried out last year as well. I'm sure it won't be that bad."

Ron didn't look truly convinced, but he avoided talking about Quidditch for the rest of the day.

Charms might have been the first lesson of the new school year, and while Harry's entire world had been thrown upside down and back again in the span of the summer holidays, he now had to realise that not only his own life had hanged. Voldemort was back again, after yesterday morning's events there was absolutely no doubt about that anymore, and from now on most of what they were learning at Hogwarts was not solely aimed at giving them a thorough education. This year they'd cover Disillusionment Spells, Shielding Charms, Warding Charms, Vanishing Spells, Tracking Spells and some basic Healing Charms. Flitwick didn't say it explicitly, but the intention behind this curriculum was obvious – to prepare them for what was about to come, just as Dumbledore had said. Now Harry understood about the doubled Defence lessons.

But for this morning, he and Ron did their best to try and cast a Disillusionment Charm on each other. Neither of them got the combination of flicking the wrist and tapping the wand on the other's head right, and when the lesson ended, all they had to show was Ron's left ear, which seemed slightly more transparent than before. Hermione, who had taken a seat at the far end of the classroom, managed to cast a near-perfect Disillusionment Charm on Parvati halfway through the lesson, and in squealing excitement Flitwick called the entire class to stop their own attempts and have a look at the translucent Parvati, who was nothing more than a ghostly outline against the wall behind her, barely discernibly except from when she moved.

"Flick and tap", Ron mimicked Flitwick on their way out of class. "Flick and tap. Look at Ms. Granger, look how she moves her wrist just before she taps the wand. That is how it's done." He grunted in annoyance. "Probably practiced it all summer, just so that she could shine in the first lesson."

"Ron, Hermione isn't allowed to perform magic during the holidays, just as we aren't. She can't have practiced."

"Yeah, but probably she read up everything about the theory beforehand."

Harry sighed. "Listen Ron, I know it's hard that Hermione is not talking to you because I dragged you into all this last summer."

Ron shook his head and waved Harry off. "You know Hermione, mate. That is why she was angry when it happened, right now she's just trying to prove her point. Don't go around blaming yourself for something we can't change anymore. She'll come around."

Harry seriously doubted that point, though he didn't tell Ron as much. Hermione could hold a grudge, and judged from the past two days she had no intention of changing the momentary situation. He'd have to try and catch her during a moment alone, there was still some talking he had to do with Hermione, anyway.

But he was quickly torn out of his musings when he turned to walk down the staircase, yet Ron turned left and made move to walk to another part of the castle entirely. Harry stopped and frowned.

"Ron, where are you going? We have Care of Magical Creatures now, don't we?"

Ron grimaced uncomfortably and scratched his head. "Erm, you see…I don't…I mean, I didn't really plan on continuing Care of Magical Creatures."

"But why? Are you going to tell me that you'd rather take Divination? You'd prefer a fraud like Trelawney over Hagrid?"

"Yes, Trelawney is a fraud, for the most part at least. Not to mention unbearable at times. Harry, you know that I like Hagrid. I really do. But…as much as I like Hagrid as a person, but if you're honest with yourself he's not exactly a really good teacher. What he's doing during lessons has been downright dangerous more often than is hasn't been."

"Oh, but Trelawney is a good teacher? Or Firenze, for that matter?", Harry snapped back, angered at Ron's decision.

Ron only shook his head. "No, we both know that. But Trelawney's harmless, and so is Firenze. Both are boring to death in their very own way, and either way it's a double period of sitting around, fighting sleep, and in Trelawney's case making up predictions about somebody's untimely demise. It's a lot easier, and a lot safer than trying to evade one of Hagrid's lethal beasts."

"Ron, you can't be serious about this."

"Sorry mate. I gotta go, otherwise I'll be late."

Harry's mood took a turn for the worse as he walked out of the castle on his own, making his way towards Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A small group of students was already clustered at the fence near the hut, mostly Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Dean and Seamus were the only Gryffindors present, which meant that Hermione had also skipped Care of Magical Creatures for another lesson. Just great.

The only good thing was that there was no trace of Malfoy or his cronies anywhere around, either. In fact, no Slytherin at all was present, only the three Gryffindors and another handful of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Ernie McMillan hurried up and together with Harry they joined their classmates at the fence next to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid looked over the small crowd of students in front of him and smiled.

"Everybody 'ere? Good. Let's get started, There's much we've gotta do 'tis year. I've a gran' project for y'all 'tis term."

Dean turned towards Harry and Seamus and raised a doubtful eyebrow. Harry didn't like to admit it, but Ron had not been all that wrong. When Hagrid got that excited about one of his projects, it mostly was about something sane people would call dangerous. His loyalty for Hagrid aside, Harry contemplated for just one moment whether Ron's decision to continue with Divination wasn't the right one. Hagrid didn't notice anything about Harry's pensieve behaviour, he strode over towards his cabin, picked up a large roll of parchment and fixed it to his door with five-inch nails and a hammer the size of Harry's head.

"Alright, gather 'round 'ere, folks."

The class did, and Harry saw that the parchment contained a large number of creatures. Hagrid turned towards them and beamed.

"Alright. 'ere's a little list I've made, of some of the animals 'ere in the forest. The next coupl'a lessons, we'll go and have a li'l look at them all, and then y'all pair up and pick one animal to care for this term."

Ernie McMillan raised a hand. "Erm, I've got a question."

Hagrid looked up at him and his smile grew even wider. "Yeah, sure. Go on and ask."

"What exactly do you mean, _care for the animals_?"

"Why, studyin' 'em, for one. Feedin' them if possible, learnin' their ways. Carin' for them. Those are all creatures that don't live too deep in der forest, or ones I c'n ask to come closer at times. You'll be in pairs, and you willna be far into the forest, or only with me at certain times. You'll all learn the ways of your animal, whom they're livin' with an' who their prey is, whom they're prey to an' how they behave t'wards humans, all important things ter know. But that'll only be in a couple of weeks, for now we're all studying all of those animals, see where they all live and how they behave towards each other an' us. An' if at any point you have a question or don't want to go inter the forest alone, you can always ask me or Firenze to help you along. I asked if he was willin' ter help an' he agreed."

Harry was starting to get a little more worried with each of Hagrid's words. Ron was right and Hagrid truly wasn't the best teacher to have ever set foot to Hogwarts, but that wasn't the problem. It had never been a problem before. Hagrid was one of Harry's most favourite people, and he enjoyed being around him, whether he learned exceedingly much during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson or not. And it definitely wasn't as if there was nothing interesting to be learned during his lessons.

The problem was that Hagrid had a serious problem with the definition of what was dangerous and what not. Hagrid might not have a problem going into the forest alone, Harry was nearly sure of that. Most of the creatures there knew him, some evaded him and others accepted him. Some even had a pet-like quality for Hagrid, and he surely understood a bit about their ways. His big, no make that _huge_ problem was to understand that the same rules didn't apply for everybody else. Harry only too vividly remembered his and Ron's encounter with Aragog, the giant spider. The beast had all too willingly helped Ron and him, only to announce that though they were friends of Hagrid's he'd let his children eat them now.

Caring for a creature of the forest and learning about their ways was good and fine, and Harry certainly had no qualms about going into the forest with Hagrid, but he most certainly wouldn't do it on his own. And he doubted that Firenze would be of much help when it came to protection. True enough, the centaur had already helped Harry a great deal once, against the protest of his fellow centaurs even. But Firenze still remained a centaur, no matter that he was an outcast now, and centaurs spend a whole lot of their time with gazing at the stars and pondering the meaning of their constellations. Aside from being hellishly confusing, it also provided little to no help should any of the creatures of the forest decide to attack at the precise moment when a centaur discovered a particularly interesting star constellation.

And ever since the end of the previous term, even the centaurs were prone to attack people at times. Harry wondered why Hagrid even suggested going back into the forest after everything that had happened the previous year. And during the next moment that he was alone with Hagrid, he definitely needed to ask him what had happened to Grawp. He had not forgotten about Hagrid's attempt to civilise his half-giant brother, and Grawp's presence had definitely not helped calming things in the forest just one bit.

For the remaining lesson, Harry and his classmates listened to Hagrid's explanations as to what he expected their project to look like. Before the lesson ended, he handed each of them a copy of the list of creatures and asked them to make up their minds about possible animals and creatures to watch for the next week. The small group of students was oddly silent as they made their way back up to the castle, the lists all having vanished into their schoolbags quite quickly as none of them was yet ready to face what they might have to deal with this term. Harry guessed that he was not the only one who had slight doubts as to why he had not taken a different lesson that Care of Magical Creatures. But now the dye was cast, he'd just have to make the best out of it.


	5. The Chapter yet untitled

**Chapter 05**

There had been no prior warning, only anticipation and the worry that it would happen soon, but nothing that could have counted as preparation. Yet the morning that the attack on muggle London took place, every member of the Order of the Phoenix immediately started to work as if practiced before. Those who worked at the Ministry were trying to gather as much first-hand information as possible, those who had other sources consulted those, and those who remained organised both, life at headquarters as well as the combination of the information collected. It was a grim picture that had been forming over the past twenty-four hours.

On the morning after the attacks, Remus sat brooding in the basement kitchen at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. He had a pot of tea standing in front of him, but nobody who entered the kitchen might have guessed that. Stacks of parchments, newspapers, files and other random documents were stacked in high piles around him, obscuring parts of him from view entirely.

Remus had been brooding over the information that had been coming into headquarters since the very early morning hours, but at least that had one advantage – it stopped him from brooding about what had nearly happened the day before. Not only – though that was probably worst – had the Death Eaters nearly managed to get hold of Harry, not only had they caused enough chaos and destruction in London to keep both muggle and wizarding authorities occupied for weeks on end. Of course Remus had been brooding about this, but he had been brooding far more about the fact that he had let his guard down long enough to be caught with a Stunning Spell. How stupid had that been? Remus wasn't the most experienced fighter in the Order, but he had been in those kinds of situations before and should know how to behave. Should know never to let his guard down. A Stunning Spell in the back, without any previous notion that there even was a Death Eater behind him. It could as well have been a Killing Curse, and that would have hit Remus just as unawares. There had been plenty of Killing Curses being fired at King's Cross that morning, and the thought that a Death Eater's choice of spell was the sole reason why Remus was still alive was bothering him greatly.

Sorting through the reports and the information gathered by the other Order members had seemed like the right choice to distract himself from this brooding at the time. But those reports didn't exactly make a good reading, Remus had to learn rather quickly.

He looked up as the door to the kitchen opened and Sirius and Tonks came into the room. They must have met in the hall, because Tonks had been on a double shift at the Ministry ever since the attacks while Sirius had come back to Grimmauld Place straight after his visit to Hogwarts the previous evening. Tonks slumped down into the nearest kitchen chair with an exhausted sigh. She definitely looked as if she had been through an awful double shift, so Remus quickly got up and fetched her a cup of tea. She accepted it with a grateful smile and Remus sat down in his previously vacated chair again.

"That bad?", he asked gently.

Tonks nodded. "King's Cross was dealt with quickly. A few injured muggles, but mostly it was a job for the Obliviators. The derailed train can easily enough explain the damage to the station itself, the muggles only have to forget that we were there. I haven't seen the situation at the Tower Bridge myself, though what I heard was bad enough. Moody was the one responsible there, our group was drawn off to Covent Garden." She drew a deep breath. "It was ugly there. Would have been even more ugly had the attack taken place in the afternoon or evening, but even in the morning there were more than enough people there. Tourists, mostly, and of course the muggle authorities were swarming all over the place and didn't make our job any easier."

"Kingsley said that Fudge met with the muggle Prime Minister yesterday afternoon, but I highly doubt that he'd inform the police of our presence", Sirius said as he picked a chair next to Tonks and placed his mug with coffee on the table. Tonks nodded wearily.

"He can't inform them, even if he wanted to. That would be as good as admitting our existence to the muggles, and publicly at that. And seeing that the victims as far as we know now are all muggles, at least we didn't have to struggle to get anybody to St. Mungo's right under their noses. But we had to try and keep as inconspicuous as possible while at the same time remain organised. It wasn't exactly easy, I can tell you. In the beginning, when everything was still a chaos, it wasn't all that difficult, but later on we really had to pay attention so that nobody would pay any mind to us."

"Does anybody know how many people were injured or killed there?", Remus asked softly.

Tonks shook her head. "Not yet, at least no final numbers. I don't know if you've ever been there, Remus. We're talking about a large market square with three huge market buildings on it. Three levels for each building, with open galleries and basements. Mostly restaurants, food-stores, electronics and other tourist-stores. They caused all three buildings to collapse, and they're still pulling people out of the debris."

Remus pulled a muggle paper out from under one of the stacks and turned it towards Tonks. "The muggles claim that it's been a terrorist attack. On the one hand that's good for us, seeing that it's a plausible explanation these days, but people will surely start to wonder what is behind this when nobody comes forward and claims to have done it."

"It were no muggles who did that", Tonks said softly. "The muggle authorities are trying to find out which explosives were used and how it was done, but there were magical signatures and traces of spells all over the place. It was never a question whether it was a muggle or not who had done this. It were wizards, there's no doubt about it."

"The situation is under control now?"

Tonks only shrugged at Remus. "Not really. Last I heard was that Moody was finished with his investigation on the Tower Bridge scene, and he and your brother should right about now be meeting at the Ministry. Though I don't know how they're doing it. I know for a fact that your brother had a night shift before the attacks. Contrary to that, I had seven hours of sleep, and after the last day I'm dead on my feet. I couldn't stand any lengthy meetings at the Ministry right now without falling asleep."

Remus smiled gently at Tonks. "Then go upstairs and get some sleep before you keel over down here. I'll tell you if there are any news."

Tonks drained her tea and got to her feet with a sigh. "Sounds like a good idea. Good night."

After she left, Sirius took his cup and moved to a chair closer to Remus. He settled and rearranged the stacks of parchment Remus had built around himself so that he could get a better look at his friend.

"Hope I didn't destroy an elaborate filing system here", Sirius said.

Remus looked up at him and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, just go ahead and rearrange things. Maybe they make better reading then."

Sirius watched Remus with quite some concern. "Headache?"

Remus shrugged. "A bit. Don't know if it comes from working through this stuff here, though, or maybe from pillowing my head on a concrete floor earlier today."

"You're not still worrying about what happened this morning, are you?"

"How should I not? Great help I am when I get myself knocked out cold at the first given opportunity. Pity that I didn't get a look at the Death Eater, otherwise I'd know whom I ought to thank for still being alive."

Sirius drew a deep breath. "Remus, you were hit by a Stunning Spell. And yes, if you break it down to possibilities, it might have just as easily been a Killing Curse. But it wasn't. You were stunned, you hit your head and the next time you'll definitely watch your back a bit more carefully. We both have been through this before, and we both know that no matter how attentive and careful we are, there is absolutely no way to shield yourself from all sides all the time. We've got enough to do already, if you start worrying yourself with the question of what else could have happened this morning, we'll never get anything done. I get sick just looking at those stacks of parchments and papers here, and even more sick at the thought that Dumbledore or somebody else might show up here again with intercepted letters in code or foreign languages. We need _your_ mind for that. Your unoccupied mind, that is. So, just for today, you'll simply leave the self-doubt and the self-accusations aside, all right? I promise I won't tell anybody."

At that, Remus actually smiled. "All right."

"So", Sirius drew out, swallowing his coffee. "What have we got so far?"

"Confusion, that's all we've got, but plenty of that. As I said to Tonks earlier, the muggles don't have a proper explanation for what happened so far. Their papers use the term _terrorist_ in an inflationary fashion, so we can safely assume that the wider public thinks along these lines as well. The muggle authorities hold back on any form of placing the blame on anybody so far, understandably. And seeing that Minister Fudge met with the muggle Prime Minister early yesterday evening, that'll probably stay that way."

"Well, that's good. That way, they won't stick their noses into it too deeply. Anything else those reports told you?"

Remus breathed a deep sigh and refilled his teacup. "Plenty, seeing that everybody keeps on sending reports, but reading most of them doesn't tell us anything of interest, other than that everything is in uproar. Severus was at Hogwarts when the attacks happened, and he didn't know anything about them."

Sirius snorted. "Or claims not to have known anything about them."

A tense moment of silence ensued between Sirius and Remus which was finally broken by Remus sighing. "All right, for all the good it does us, he _claims_ not to have known anything about the attacks beforehand. And even if he did, he either didn't tell Albus, or Albus knew and for some reason didn't tell the Order. Which I don't think is probable, but that's about it. Anyway, the new school year has started and Severus' primary activity for the next months will be teaching. Right now he has nothing to report that could tell us anything about what in Merlin's name happened yesterday.

"Kingsley was at the Tower Bridge scene. He reported in earlier, and then went back to the Ministry. His report sounded pretty much like what Tonks said about Camden Town earlier. The Tower Bridge is gone, or – in Kingsley's words – _The ugly thing was blown to smithereens_." He sighed again. "No exact number of casualties yet, as far as we know no wizards among the injured or supposed dead. Vance and Diggle are working through all missing people's reports that came in at the Ministry today, to see if one of them was maybe in London at the time of the attacks. Emmeline called in three hours ago; at that time they were halfway through the lists with nothing to report. That's about it, so far. I've been waiting for Moody to report back, if anybody he might have some new information. But if what Tonks said is true and he and Janus are still conferring about the investigation, it might take some more time."

"Well, if Tonks is right then it might not take all that long anymore. Moody was here before he returned to the Ministry, he said he had been at home earlier, grabbing some sleep. Contrary to all evidence suggesting otherwise, your brother is only human as well, and like all humans might need some sleep in the near future."

Remus raised a silent eyebrow and shook his head. "I wouldn't bet on it. What happened yesterday is a dream come true for Janus. That is what he lives and breathes for; he's been waiting for something like this to happen for years. Janus didn't join the Ministry to keep chasing petty criminals for years; he has always been in it for the big ones. And now it has happened. He's like a pit-bull concerning that. Once he's gotten hold of it, he won't let go again. Sleep is something for the lesser humans, or those who don't know quite as much about the possibilities of potions as Janus does."

An icy detached tone had crept into Remus' voice, as strong as Sirius had hardly ever heard before.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that you have talked to Janus not so long ago. There's such warmth in your voice, as if you'd just spent Christmas with your family."

"Leave it be, Sirius", Remus said, his voice tight. Up to that moment, Sirius hadn't fully realised just how thin the ice he was treading on truly was, so he quickly raised his hands in a pacifying gesture.

"I'm sorry."

Remus shook his head. "It's all right. It's just…oh, I don't know. My head is throbbing, and my patience is running a bit thin. I think I'll just lie down for a while, I didn't really get much sleep last night."

Sirius nodded and pulled out his wand. "Do that, I'll tell you if there are any news. But first…you did say you were through with those, didn't you?"

He pointed his wand at the stacks of parchment on the table and Remus, following the movement, nodded wearily. "Yeah, aside from that small stack on the very right there's nothing in there that's of any immediate use."

"Good." Sirius waved his wand, and in a small cloud of dust the stacks of parchments vanished into thin air, leaving only the small stack Remus had mentioned lying on the table.

"What did you do?"

"Archived the stuff in the attic. If paperwork is already bound to clog up headquarters, it can as well lie around somewhere where it's not in the way. And now go and get some sleep, Moony."

Remus nodded wearily. "You're right. Good night."

"'night."

Remus left and Sirius got up to refill his coffee. _Good night_, yeah sure. It was half past one in the afternoon. A bit more than twenty-four hours, and already Voldemort was interfering with their sleeping patterns.

Sirius himself was one of the few regular inhabitants of headquarters who had gotten at least some rest last night. After his return from Hogwarts, Sirius had once more found himself in the position that there was nothing for him to do. Contrary to all of last year however, this had been no reason for frustration. Ever since his return from hospital, he had finally been actively involved in the Order work. There no longer was a price on his head that stopped him from leaving the house, fortunately, and ever since then he did all he could and whatever there was to do, like all other Order members who were not Ministry employees and thusly had a certain field of expertise to cover.

Not being a Ministry employee had kept him from going to one of the scenes the previous evening, and by the time Sirius had returned from Hogwarts, only Remus, Molly and Bill had been at headquarters. Remus and Molly had been going over the incoming reports and Bill had pondered over some files he had brought home from Gringott's, so Sirius had gone to bed. It hadn't been for a lack of enthusiasm, really, but for the first time in ages simply because there was nothing he could have done except from getting some sleep to relieve one of the other Order members later in the morning. He couldn't have begun to imagine how much paperwork had piled up over night.

Sirius leaned against the counter as he began to sip his second cup of coffee. Remus had worked through all the reports so far, meaning that there was nothing else to do about them. This also meant that there was nothing specific for Sirius to do at the moment. He was supposed to wait for Dung, later on the two of them wanted to visit some of Dung's haunts and see what Dung's contacts and Padfoot's nose and hearing could turn up, but for the next couple of hours Sirius had nothing to do.

He still wasn't welcome at the Ministry of Magic, at least not to the degree that anybody there would have told him anything helpful, so he left that to the Order members who worked there. Dumbledore had told him he'd be in touch, and Moody was bound in to come here sooner or later. So Sirius sat down at the table, pulled the parchments Remus had deemed important earlier on towards himself and started to work through them. Remus was far better at that than him, Sirius knew that, but Remus had been staring at parchments for the better part of the entire night, and might have missed something. A fresh look on it by a second pair of eyes definitely wouldn't hurt, if anything.


	6. Professor Fairbanks

**Chapter 06 – Professor Fairbanks**

Harry met a very sleepy looking Ron in the Great Hall for lunch. Seemingly, his best friend had not had a pleasant lesson just now, either, so the both of them decided to dodge the topic of whether Divination of Care of Magical Creatures was the better choice for now. It was bad enough that Hermione was not talking to them, they certainly didn't need to start quarrelling about something that which they couldn't change anymore now.

Lunch was over far too quickly, and before they knew what was happening, it was already time for them to leave again for their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year. Harry had to admit that he was curious as to what Professor Fairbanks was like, but after the past years' experience – with the sole exception of the year Remus had taught them – he didn't get his hopes up very high.

When Harry and Ron came into the classroom, Professor Fairbanks was already at his desk, rummaging around in his briefcase. He was wearing another set of dark blue robes, his slightly too long hair fell into his eyes, and from the corner of his eyes Harry noticed that Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were sitting on the desk directly in front of Fairbanks, wands, quill and parchment at the ready, staring at him even though he was still busy with whatever it was that he was searching in his briefcase. But much to Harry's relief there were no other obvious signs of fawning and swooning.

With a sigh, he and Ron sat down next to each other, as far away from Malfoy and his cronies as humanly possible. Fairbanks seemed to have found what he was looking for, he stopped his rummaging in his briefcase, pulled out a piece of parchment and came out from behind his desk, leaning against it and waving his wand once to close he door.

"Good afternoon. Now, as you have already heard at the welcoming feast yesterday, my name is Dante Fairbanks and I'm going to be your professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts from now on. At least by now I still hope that I will manage to last longer than a year."

A few people chuckled, but Fairbanks continued as if he hadn't heard. "Until this summer, I've been employed by the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I know that your past experiences with Ministry officials working at Hogwarts has been less than pleasant, but I can assure you that you don't need to worry. I am no longer employed by the Ministry, and I am very well aware of what Professor Dumbledore expects me to teach you. Which is why your defence lessons have been doubled, as you surely have noticed by now. I've spent some time this summer analysing the past year's curricula, and I have to tell you that from what I read there, you're lagging behind. In times like these, Defence is the most important subject taught here at Hogwarts, so I suggest we'll do our best to catch up a bit."

Parvati raised her hand. Fairbanks looked up at her. "Yes, Ms…"

"Patil. Parvati Patil." A faint blush rose to her cheeks.

"You have a question, Ms. Patil?"

"Yes. What are we going to do during the additional lessons? Professor McGonagall said something about active defence methods."

"Yes, I was coming to that. I have learned that a couple of years ago, the attempt was made to found a duelling club here at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, that failed. Unfortunately because duelling is an important part of actively defending yourself. We all hope that you won't need it, but in all honesty nobody can promise you that. So what we're going to do during those additional lessons is basically teach you everything you need to know in case you come into a situation when you have to defend yourself. Duelling is part of that, but unfortunately not all people you might encounter will rely onto an honourable way of fighting with you. So we will also cover other situations, more…shall we say sneaky ways of fighting. Part of that is also working with detection spells and ways to avoid confrontations altogether whenever possible. Also, over the course of the year Ministry officials are going to come to Hogwarts to teach you how to apparate. When the time comes, we'll integrate that into the classes as well."

"Who's we?" Ron blurted out.

Fairbanks turned towards him. "And you would be Mr…?"

"Ron Weasley."

"A justified question, Mr. Weasley. Seeing that I am teaching all seven years in Defence, doubling the lessons even only for the upper four years is an amount of work that isn't manageable for one person alone. And as our subjects tie in nicely in some aspects of defence magic, and as Potions no longer is a required class after the O.W.L.s, I asked Professor Snape to take over some of the lessons. He is a fine dueller, quite versed in most of what we'll be dealing with, and he'll also be able to give you a better insight into potions than I am. Because next term, we'll also cover way to detect and react to being poisoned. For those of you who were glad to be no longer participating in Potions lessons, no reason to worry. We won't be brewing any potions here, but we'll have to deal with the most common poisons to prepare you for all eventualities. There's no firm schedule as to which classes Professor Snape will take over and during which classes he'll be present, but for your year this will only concern the double lesson on Thursday, not the one on Monday. Professor Snape and I will work out a plan over the course of the next week, I will let you know as soon as we have figured out the details."

Ron didn't seem to have heard anything of Fairbanks' little speech aside from the first few sentences. "Professor Snape?", he gasped, not bothering to hide his shock. Fairbanks smiled.

"Yes, Professor Snape. I was under the impression that you had met him before, Mr. Weasley."

"Erm, of course. It's just…I mean, I didn't expect…I just didn't expect him to be teaching Defence."

"Yes, life often chooses unexpected ways. Anyway, for the moment we don't need to concern ourselves with that, I will let you know as soon as we have worked out the details. For today, I first of all wanted to get to know your names, and then I thought we'd maybe try out some spells you should know by now, so that I can see where your strengths and weaknesses are. This is no test, mind you, but I need to know what I'll have to work on with you."

Fairbanks shifted around slightly and pulled the parchment he had been searching for earlier towards him.

"I think I have a good overview on what you did during the past school years by now. I can see what you've covered and what we still might have to revise. I just have one question. Are the teachers' reports of last year right and you covered absolutely no practical Defence spells? Nothing at all?"

He looked up from his parchment, only to find all the students in the room slowly nodding their heads. Fairbanks sighed. "I had feared as much. Good thing we doubled the lessons, because if you've missed an entire year of practical Defence lessons, then we certainly have a lot of catching up to do. And we'd better start now. Just pack away your quills and parchments, other than your wand you won't need anything for the lesson today."

Excitedly, the students packed away their writing utensils. With a wave of his wand, Fairbanks moved the desks and chairs stacked against one wall.

"Good, team up in pairs now, please. Later this term I'll pair you up according to the level you're able to achieve, but for now just search yourself a partner. Everybody is paired up? Good. Before we start, however…"

Fairbanks pulled out his wand and pointed it at the floor. A few swishes and a muttered spell later, soft blue mats were covering the floor. Fairbanks put his wand away and smiled up at the class.

"Might come in handy. All right now, we'll go over some of the basic spells. You're taking turns in casting the spells. I'll try to get a picture of what level you're performing on. Should any question arise, just ask me. Now, I think we'll start with simple Disarming Spells. Start now, please."

It was an exhausting lesson, but Harry enjoyed it immensely. Defence lessons during the last year had been dull, to say the least, and this here was more after Harry's liking. Fairbanks let them practice Disarming Spells and, satisfied that everybody was able to perform those, ordered them to move on to Stunning and Shielding Spells. Much to his personal satisfaction, Harry realised that all those who had been members of the DA didn't have any problems with the spells, much unlike some of the Slytherins who had obviously never encountered a Shielding Spell before.

While they were practicing, Fairbanks moved from one pair to the next, nodding in approval and correcting stances, wand-moves and incantations where he thought necessary. Again, Harry had the impression that he corrected the Slytherins far more often than the Gryffindors.

Shortly before the bell was about to ring, Fairbanks called them to a stop. "All right, thank you, that's been all for today. Those spells are really essential; you need to be able to perform then in whatever situation imaginable. I want you to be able to perform them if I come into your dormitory and throw you out of bed in the middle of the night."

Beside Harry, Ron raised a doubtful eyebrow at the suggestion that somebody might dare to interrupt his nightly sleep. Harry noticed that Lavender and Parvati looked rather as if they were hoping for Fairbanks to make his figure of speech come true. Fairbanks now didn't seem to notice any of those expressions, he continued undisturbed.

"So if you're having any problems, feel free to ask me for help. Those of you to whom I suggested that they need to practice those spells some more should try to find a partner and go over them again. Again, if you have any problems, come to my office and we'll see how to get things settled. Homework for next lesson is to prepare whatever Blocking and Immobilising Spells you know and consider useful. That's it, class dismissed."

Chatting and muttering, the students grabbed their belongings and filed out of the room. Fairbanks seemed in no hurry to restore the normal seating order in his classroom, which led Harry to believe that another class was about to have a similar lesson than they just had.

"Come on Harry, we need to get to dinner, we're packed with homework in Charms."

Harry nodded at Ron and was just about to reach for his bag when Professor Fairbanks turned towards him.

"A word please, Mr. Potter."

Harry frowned. "I'll be along in a moment, Ron."

Ron nodded and left while Harry shouldered his bag and turned towards his Professor. He could imagine no reason why Fairbanks wanted to keep him after class other than one that was connected to things that had nothing to do with school. He still had no idea what to think of Fairbanks and only hoped that the man didn't intend to discuss anything annoying.

"Professor?"

Fairbanks was standing behind his desk now, hurriedly scribbling something onto a piece of parchment which he put back into his briefcase.

"Mr. Potter, I won't keep you long, I simply have a question and didn't want to ask it in front of the entire class."

Harry frowned. "And what would that be, Professor?"

Fairbanks again reached for his briefcase and pulled out an official looking folder.

"Your O.W.L. report", he said with a grin. "The Ministry forwarded the reports on all students to me so that I could get some sort of idea what level the upper classes were able to perform at."

Harry frowned again. His O.W.L. in Defence Against the Dark Arts had been outstanding, he had no idea what Fairbanks could have found in there that would require keeping him after class. Fairbanks saw the frown on Harry's face and quickly put up a reassuring smile.

"There's nothing wrong, Mr. Potter. I do prefer to form an own opinion instead of adopting that of others. However, your report states that in your practical Defence examination you performed a Patronus Charm."

Harry nodded. "That's right. I was asked to do one, so I did."

"It say here", Fairbanks said and opened up the file, scanning the inlaying parchment with his finger "Where is it? Ah, here. _Upon request, the student produced a stable, corporeal Patronus._" He looked up at Harry. "Now, don't mind my question, Mr. Potter, but was this a stroke of luck or are you able to perform a corporeal Patronus at will?"

Harry scratched his nose. "Erm, I wouldn't call it a stroke of luck, no. It works most of the times. It's only in the presence of Dementors that it doesn't work that well. It's happened that I had to try hard to produce a Patronus."

Fairbanks' eyes widened a slight bit. "You're telling me you're also able to produce a Patronus in the presence of Dementors?"

Harry nodded hesitantly. "So far, yes. But as I said, it was more difficult. It never really worked on the first try."

"When did you learn the charm? As far as I am aware, it's on the curriculum for fifth respectively sixth year, but I thought that there had been no practical defence lessons taught here last year?"

"I learned it during my third year. Professor Lupin taught me, because there were Dementors stationed at the castle gates."

Fairbanks nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Thank you Mr. Potter, I don't want to keep you from your classes."

Harry nodded his goodbye at Fairbanks and turned towards the door. Upon leaving the classroom, Harry had to stifle a grin. He knew by now that some people thought it extraordinary that he had learned the Patronus Charm at the age of thirteen, but he imagined Fairbanks would be even more surprised once he learned that he was not the only one in his year who was able to perform it. They had been training the Charm during their DA sessions the previous year, and a number of members of the DA had eventually managed it. Never when faced with a Dementor, admittedly, but they would hardly be able to practice that in the classroom, anyway.

They had started the DA to learn self-defence in case they needed it, but now it seemed that their hard work was also paying out lesson-wise.

Ron was waiting for him outside of the classroom.

"And, what did Fairbanks want?"

Harry shrugged. "He just asked me whether I could really produce a Patronus. Seems he's bound to teach them this year."

"Well, all the better that we already practiced, I'd say. Now come on, let's go get some dinner."

They went down into the Great Hall and took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table before they realised that something was different today. The Great Hall was exceptionally silent, but as Harry looked around the room he realised that it wasn't for a lack of students being present. On the contrary, the Great Hall was rather full, but those who didn't have their noses buried in newspapers were either whispering amongst themselves or were staring straight at Harry. Frowning, he turned towards Ron.

"What's going on here?"

Ron shook his head, but before he could do or say anything, Ginny thrust a copy of the _Evening Prophet_ at him. Her face was extremely pale and her hands were shaking slightly.

"Masses of those came soaring in just before you arrived. Seems they sent one to each recipient of the _Daily Prophet_."

Harry picked the paper out of her hands and unfolded it. It was a special edition of the _Evening Prophet_, and seemed to consist of nothing but four folded pages and one big headline.

_**He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named demands Minister Fudge to stand down**_

_Sources at the Ministry of Magic have reported that as of yesterday evening, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has demanded that Cornelius Fudge immediately stand down as Minister of Magic to be replaced by You-Know-Who himself. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named claimed responsibility for the attacks on muggle London of September 1st, stating that those were just a small glimpse of what awaited the wizarding world should Minister Fudge not follow his command and immediately stand down from his position._

_At an official Ministry press conference this afternoon, Minister Fudge confirmed this information but refused to answer any questions. However, the Daily Prophet and the Evening Prophet were granted an exclusive interview with Percy Weasley (21), first assistant to Minister Fudge (for a full account of the interview, see page four)._

_Weasley confirmed again that the reports of You-Know-Who demanding of Fudge to stand down were genuine, yet he stated that "The Minister surely will not follow that demand. The Ministry of Magic is working hard against the threat of You-Know-Who and at the moment we are confident that the situation will be under control soon."_

_However, Weasley refused to answer detailed questions as to what the Ministry of Magic and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement are doing to get the situation back under control, and this afternoon's statements did not help to quell the fear that is rising rapidly in our society. The question whether eccentric Alastor Moody (69), recently reinstated head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, is still capable of handling a crisis like his one is being asked not only by Ministry insiders. Moody was not available for an interview at any point this day. However, our inside reporter Gilda Wardable was able to coerce Deputy Chief of the DMLE and Head of Auror Division Janus Lupin (42) into giving a short statement. Lupin declared that "every Auror in the whole Department is working overtime to guarantee the public safety. An additional Auror force has been sent to Hogwarts to strengthen the castle's defences. The school is safe, print that in your paper, maybe then we won't be bombarded by owls from hundreds of parents who suddenly start worrying about their spawns. That's about all I have to say at the moment, so don't keep me from my work."_

_Lupin furthermore refused to answer any questions and when pressed with the right of the public to know what was going on, threatened our reporter at wand-point and had her removed from the DMLE._

_Generally, our information from people inside the Ministry of Magic paint a grim picture indeed and it must be allowed to ask the question whether our authorities truly are capable of handling our momentary situation. Whether the Ministry might stand a chance to get the situation under control any time soon will only be proven once You-Know-Who shows the full power of his forces._

_However dim the momentary outlook, the Daily Prophet reinforces its previously uttered request not to act in panic. On page 3 of this special edition of the Evening Prophet you will find once more the Ministry-issued guidelines on safe behaviour. We ask our readers to read them carefully and pay attention to them to ensure safety in your everyday lives._

Harry didn't read the rest of the paper. He folded it and put it aside. People were still staring at him, Harry knew without looking up, but he didn't exactly know why.

"Why is everybody staring at me?", he whispered from the corner of his mouth towards Ginny.

"There's something about you on page 2", she said, not bothering to lower her voice. Actually she didn't need to, Harry thought, seeing that there was one paper for at least every second student here in the Great Hall.

"Do I want to read it or not?"

Ginny shook her head. "You remember the times when the _Prophet_ was declaring you a nutcase?"

Harry nodded, a bad feeling rising in his gut. "Yeah. They're not starting that again, are they?"

"No, they're doing exactly the opposite. They only need a few lines to make it look as if you're ready and willing to as well as capable of saving our world single-handedly."

"Why me?"

"You did read the papers lately, didn't you?"

Harry shrugged. "Not really. Occasionally, but over the past year I've rather stopped enjoying the _Prophet_."

"Well, they threw themselves onto the story of what happened in the Ministry as soon as Fudge admitted that You-Know-Who was back. They knew that we were in the Hall of Prophecies, and now they're hooked on the thought that your destined to bring down You-Know-Who."  
Harry had indeed missed all of this in the papers, but he had heard the prophecy at the beginning of the summer, and from all he knew now, the _Prophet's_ prediction was not all that far-off. He shrugged uncomfortably but decided not to let the stares disturb him. He had been stared at by his fellow students before, it wasn't all that much of a new feeling for him.

"Anything else in there that's worth reading?"

Ginny shook her head. "Nothing really new. There is of course the interview with Percy, but there's nothing at all worth reading about it."

Harry remained thoughtful for a few moments. "Well, in the end it should not be too surprising that Voldemort demands of Fudge to stand down."

"But he can't possibly expect that he'll follow that command just like that."

Harry shook his head. "Of course not. But that makes it look as if it's Fudge's fault in case things escalate. Not that Voldemort would be any less brutal should Fudge stand down right now. It doesn't say here who wrote the article, but whoever it was, they seemingly were no big fan of the DMLE. This article makes them look helpless and confused, nothing else."

Ginny nodded. Ron had pulled the paper towards himself and had opened it on the page with his brother's interview, but he wasn't really reading.

Harry was still chewing the article through in his head. "I didn't know that Remus' brother was Deputy Chief of the DMLE."

Ginny's eyebrow rose up. "That's Professor Lupin's brother?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I met him during summer. You and Ron weren't there, I think. After Remus first collapsed, Dumbledore called him to Grimmauld Place. Remus told me later that he was an Auror, and during his visit he kept on mentioning how busy he was, but I didn't guess that he was this high up in the Department."

Ron looked up from the paper. "You know Janus Lupin? My Dad met him once or twice, but he was always very vague about him."

Harry shrugged. "There's not really much I can tell you about him. Imagine Remus, and then turn him into exactly the opposite."

"He can't be that bad, can he?"

"Bad isn't the word I'd use. But there's something about him that gave me the creeps."

Ginny frowned. "Well, the article did say that he threatened the reporter at wand-point. And if he's quoted correctly, he was also rather impolite. It indeed sounds a bit rash."

Ron shrugged. "On the other hand we all know how bothersome reporters can be. Just think of our old friend Rita."

"Yes, but somehow that fits with the little I got to see of him", Harry said. "I mean, the day I met him, his brother had just collapsed and fallen down a flight of stairs for no apparent reason, and he was calmly standing in the kitchen drinking coffee. Everything about him seemed so…well, cold. As if he couldn't care less about what was going on. And even when Dumbledore offered him to go upstairs and visit Remus, he just said he was too busy and left. As if he couldn't get out of there fast enough."

"Well, we don't know much about them, right? I mean, maybe there is a reason why the two don't really get along with each other. Just look at Percy."

Harry looked at Ron. "Yes, when I asked Remus he said something similar. But still, meeting him was weird."

"He is a bit of a legend already, from what my Dad said. Though he doesn't really approve of him. Seemingly, Remus' brother has a reputation of being reckless more often than not. Dad was talking to Kingsley about it once, it seems that Kingsley doesn't like Remus' brother much, either, because Lupin doesn't always stick to the laws and rules in what he does."

Harry shrugged silently, but from his left he heard Hermione snort. While she hadn't participated in their conversation, she obviously had been listening in. Harry knew very well why she was reacting to Ron's comment about rashness and disregard of rules, and it had nothing to do whatsoever with Janus Lupin. Mentally, he sighed deeply. He'd have to talk to Hermione, and quickly at that. This couldn't go on like that for any longer.


	7. Friendships

**Chapter 07 – Friendships**

Sirius had nearly forgotten what an exhausting business war was. True, he had led an exhausting life in general, but being on the run from the authorities was a different kind of exhausting business than trying to fight a war. Still, two days after the attacks in London there was a regular coming and going at headquarters, people were constantly dropping reports, waiting for others to show up, or simply trying to grab a bite to eat or a few hours of sleep between before or after work or in between shifts. It certainly wasn't helping that most Order members had a normal job keeping them busy beside whatever task the Order was giving them.

And even Sirius, as one of the few who didn't need to arrange Order work with his private life or job, already felt the exhaustion of what they were doing. Day and night no longer were the criteria for when to sleep and when not. They all worked for as long as they could, whenever a certain opportunity presented itself, and ate and grabbed some sleep whenever there were some short minutes or hours for it in between. That was about it, and it was exhausting.

By now the official Ministry investigations of the attacks in London were finished, but nobody really was any wiser. It had been attacks caused definitely by wizards, most probably by Death Eaters, yet there was no single sign of identification that tied Voldemort's ranks to the attacks. A puzzling fact, seeing that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had always taken care to claim their crimes for them.

But that was how it was, and Sirius was not the kind of person to puzzle endlessly about facts like that. It was disturbing, but for now they did not have an explanation that was based on more than pure guesswork.

Sooner or later they'd find the answer, for now Sirius was still busy catching up with not only the information of the past forty-eight hours, but also with everything that had happened while he had been away. Or rather, while he had been dead. Or whatever he had been, Sirius still wasn't entirely sure which label to put on it. Not dead, though. Saying that he had been dead would mean that he had been resurrected, and that was a thought Sirius did not want to contemplate because it sent icy shivers down his spine. To avoid a further conflict of naming his condition, he settled on thinking of his absence as a time during which he had been physically incapacitated. At least that was a word that didn't send shivers down Sirius' spine.

And in any case it was of no use to bother himself with finding a good description for what had happened to him. The Order of the Phoenix was by no means a bureaucratic institution, but because the times when all the members were present were rare and far in between there was paperwork. Members wrote reports on whatever they were investigating or on whatever they had found out so that those members who were not present at certain meetings didn't have to wait for someone to tell them. Thusly resulted paperwork which was kept in Sirius' father's former study for the members to check. Quite a lot of paperwork, actually. In any case far too much paperwork for Sirius' liking.

But over the past couple of days he had learned to appreciate the paperwork. Of course Remus had told Sirius what had been going on during his absence, but listening to Remus was something else than reading the reports. Listening to Remus was easier, of course, and far more interesting. But the reports were detailed, and especially during the time that Remus had spent at Hogwarts he had missed quite a number of Order meetings.

Sirius didn't quite know why exactly he was slowly working his way through all those scrolls of parchment. For some reason however he had the feeling that he needed to know what had been going on, that he needed to be up to date with his information in order to make the right choices when the time came. After all, it was no longer solely his own life he was responsible for.

And that was what was driving him on, Sirius realised. That thought was the force that made him read through all those reports and meeting protocols until his eyes burned and his head throbbed.

He was responsible for Harry now, and once this whole thing blew up Harry would be right in the middle of it. It was a painful realisation, but there was no way that Sirius would be able to keep his godson out of this. Voldemort wanted Harry dead, needed Harry dead if only to prove his point, and Sirius would do anything in his power to keep his godson safe from harm.

Thinking about Harry made a strange mixture of feelings rise up in Sirius' chest. Affection, for the most part, but also a whole lot of worry, amongst other things. Sirius still wasn't entirely used to the fact that he was free and officially in charge of Harry's upbringing, and there were moments when the sheer amount of responsibility that came along with that task seemed to overwhelm him.

But it was easy enough to break down to that, Sirius mused. He needed to keep Harry from coming to harm, for the teenager's sake as much as for his own. And to make sure that Harry would not be hurt any further, Sirius desperately needed to make sure that he's make the right choices. And for that, he simply had to know as much as he could about what was going on.

Sirius sighed and downed his cup of half-warm tea. The kitchen at Grimmauld Place had been too loud and busy for his taste earlier on, so he had retreated into his bedroom to read in peace. But now his eyes were stinging and a slight pulsing behind his temples announced an upcoming headache. His concentration had vanished and Sirius realised that he would not get much farther today. What he needed now was a distraction, otherwise he'd become mad soon.

At that moment there was a knock on his door.

"Come in," Sirius called and turned around towards the door. It opened and Remus stepped into the room. Sirius smiled. He knew that Remus was perceptive, but sometimes Sirius thought that his friend could read his mind. Remus closed the door, took a good look at Sirius and frowned slightly.

"Are you all right?"

Sirius shrugged. "I can't focus anymore, that's all."

Remus looked at Sirius for a long moment, then he shook his head slightly and sat down on the bed.

"No small wonder, you've been up here for hours. I'd say you could do with a break."

Sirius sighed and nodded. "Yes, you're right. It's just not that easy to stop my mind from working."

Remus smiled. "I'd daresay that this is what brought you into so much trouble at school. Lessons were not enough to keep you occupied, and the other ways you chose to keep your busy mind from straying were not at all according to the school rules."

"Only this is not about pouring a stinking solution into the Slytherin's Quidditch locker room water supply."

A distant look settled on Remus' face. "I wish it still was."

Sirius smiled. "Yes, things seemed so much more easy back then."

Sirius turned back towards the desk and started to stack the reports and parchments to create at least some sense of order. It was bad enough that he couldn't seem to get some order into his mind.

His shoulders and neck were stiff from sitting bent over the desk for hours and announced their abuse painfully every time Sirius moved. He leaned his head towards his chest and circled his shoulders, but to no avail. There was the sound of movement behind him and a moment later a warm pair of hands settled on his shoulders and squeezed gently. Sirius sighed and closed his eyes.

"I'll have to ask Albus whether there's a chance that we can get a massage therapist to move in here."

Remus laughed and gently but firmly began to knead the sore muscles in Sirius' shoulders and back.

"Until that is the case, you'll have to settle with me."

"You won't hear any complaints from my side."

"Maybe you should just pay a little more attention to not sitting stooped like that for hours," Remus said.

"My mind was on those reports, not on how comfortable I was. Or rather, wasn't. You can't by any chance massage away the buzzing in my head as well?"

Remus chuckled. "I'm afraid not. But how about I continue to take care of your neck and shoulders for now, and you tell me what you've learned from your hours of brooding over all those dusty parchments."

Sirius closed his eyes again, let his head fall forward and breathed deeply. "I had hoped that things were making more sense if only I tried to see the whole picture."

"That isn't the case?"

Sirius shook his head slightly. "Well, nothing big came popping out at me, at least nothing I didn't already know. However impossible it seems, but so far Voldemort seems to restrain his activities to Britain. There's no single sign that he's been acting anywhere on the continent."

"Albus said he was watching the development in Russia, anyway."

Sirius nodded, gratefully noticing how the sting in his muscles seemed to evaporate slowly. "Yes, and I think he's right to do so. Not much good has come from Durmstrang during the past war. But even if Russia is truly all quiet and peaceful at the moment, the rest is bad enough. Voldemort has got the Dementors, he's got the giants, he's got an army of Death Eaters and keeps on recruiting more and more. It'll only be a matter or time until the first Inferi sightings are reported. I'm fairly sure that despite everything we know, he has at least worked hard on recruiting vampires, and the goblins worry me greatly. Nobody should need to think for such a long time about which side they stand on, I don't really want to know what Voldemort's reign could promise them. And I don't even want to know what will be next on his list."  
Remus' hands stopped their movement on Sirius' shoulders and withdrew. Frowning slightly, Sirius turned around and looked at Remus, who had withdrawn a few steps and was staring out of the window. Only now did Sirius realise that Remus might have had a different reason entirely for searching him out earlier. He got up from his chair.

"What is wrong?"

"He's got the werewolves."

Sirius' heart sank. "What? How? And how do you know?"

Remus sighed deeply, but he didn't meet Sirius' eyes. "Moody just reported in. It seems that Voldemort is threatening the Ministry with setting a great number of werewolves loose in a closely inhabited area with the next full moon if Fudge doesn't resign immediately. That isn't an empty threat, Sirius."

Remus' voice was low and strained, but as Sirius made a step towards him he immediately made a step back to keep their distance.

"Remus, we always knew he'd try to recruit werewolves. And what with the way the Ministry treats them, it's no small wonder that they want to believe him."

Remus slowly shook his head. "He's rounding them up, Sirius. One werewolf is bad enough, can you imagine what havoc groups of werewolves can cause? How many people they'll bite, curse and kill? How many wizards, witches, muggles, adults, _children_?"

"Yes, I can imagine. I don't want that to happen, either. But whatever Fudge will do, it won't stop Voldemort from setting them loose. And for as long as we don't know where he'll let them strike, there is nothing we can do at the moment."

Remus silently stared at the floor for some long, silent moments, and the strain around his eyes and mouth grew more pronounced. Then he looked up.

"I've just been to Hogwarts, I had a long talk with Albus. I came here to tell you that I'll be gone for a while."

A leaden weight settled in the pit of Sirius' stomach. "He can't ask that of you. He cannot possibly demand that of you."

Remus shook his head. "Albus didn't demand anything from me. He didn't call me to Hogwarts, I went there on my own volition. Albus didn't ask me to do it, I offered to do it."

Sirius made a step towards Remus and, before Remus could take another step back, reached for his shoulders and held him in place. "Why?"

"You know very well why, Sirius."  
"No, I don't!" Sirius let go of Remus' shoulders and started to pace the length of the room angrily. "I don't understand why you're doing this to yourself. Don't you think I know what this will do to you? What will happen to you if you're going to stay with them?"

"I am one of them, Sirius."

"No, you are not! Yes, you are a werewolf. But you're not like them. You've got yourself under control, Remus. You don't lash out your anger about your condition at those who were lucky enough not to encounter a werewolf at night when they were only five years old. You never turned your anger against anybody who treated you badly. And now you're telling me that you're voluntarily going to join those who represent everything you never wanted to become?"

Remus was breathing harshly but still he refused to meet Sirius' eyes. "We need to know what is going on, and I am the only one who can get the information we need."

"They're going to know what you are, Remus. They are going to know that you are not like them. Do you honestly think they will trust you once they realise that you've been living amongst humans, that you've voluntarily integrated yourself into a society that despises what you are? What they are? They won't trust you, you're only putting yourself into danger."

Remus shook his head. "I'll have to take that risk, and I doubt it's as big as you think it is. Fact is that we need to know what is going on, and I am our only chance to find that out."

"And what will happen at full moon?"

A shadow crossed Remus' face and he shuddered slightly. "I have every intention of being back before the next full moon. It's more than three weeks away, and if I have the slightest chance to find out where Voldemort intends for the werewolves to strike until then, don't you think it's a chance I have to take?"

"There is more to it than this, Remus. What do you think you have to prove?"

"Nothing."  
Sirius stubbornly shook his head. "What is it, Remus?"  
Remus drew another deep breath, and his eyes became hard and vacant. "Greyback. I am sure that it's him Voldemort put in charge of recruiting the werewolves."

Sirius' face hardened. "That's it. You are not going."

"It's not your decision to make, Sirius! I appreciate that you're worrying, but you cannot tell me what to do and what not."

Sirius had resumed his pacing, and the glances he threw at Remus were both angry and concerned at the same time. "I just don't want you to put yourself into unnecessary danger. And Fenrir Greyback means unnecessary danger."

"He can hardly bite me again, can he?"

"Does your father know about this? Or your brother?"

Remus' face hardened within moments. "I am nearly thirty-eight years old, Sirius. I don't need to tell either of them where I'm going or what I'm doing. It has nothing to do with them. And don't try to make me feel guilty just to make me stay here. My decision has been made, I only wanted to tell you that I will leave tonight and won't be back in a while. I doubt that many letters will arrive for me, but could you take care of anything that might arrive?"

Sirius nodded. "Sure. Just take care that you come back in once piece, all right? Even if you don't find out as much as you want to."

Remus nodded. "I will. Thank you, Sirius."

He turned towards the door when Sirius' voice stopped him. "How will you know where to look for them?"

Remus smiled sadly. "Oh, I don't doubt that I will find them. Good bye, Sirius."

"Bye Remus. Take care."  
Remus nodded once, then he left the room. Sirius stared at the spot where his friend had vanished a moment ago for a long time, then he sighed shakily and sank down on the bed with his face in his hands.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

The whispers and the stares followed Harry wherever he went that day. He had not bothered to read what the paper had had to say about him, from the little Ginny had told him earlier he could very well guess what the article had been like. And he didn't care, or rather, he told himself that he didn't care. For the entire last year, the _Daily Prophet_ had written about him again and again, he didn't give a damn about whether they changed the tone of their reports on him right now.

But aside from the article, something else had him bothered far more, and that was Hermione's continuous behaviour of ignoring Ron and him. It couldn't go on like that for any longer.

Hermione had bustled off to the library after dinner, and Harry had not wanted to corner her there. Instead he had tried to finish his homework in the common room, but had found himself unable to concentrate properly. Aside from the worry about his friendship with Hermione, Voldemort's threats against the Ministry had also not gone out of his mind. In the end Harry had pushed his Transfiguration essay aside, had pulled out a blank piece of parchment and had composed a letter to Sirius.

_Dear Sirius,_

_today's special edition of the Daily Prophet has all of us really worried. I have learned not to trust the papers in everything they write, but even if it's only partly true, it sounds bad enough. I would be a lot calmer if we could talk again soon. Is there any chance that you'll drop by in Hogwarts in the near future?_

_Take care, and say hi to Remus and the Weasleys from me._

_Love,_

_Harry._

After writing the letter, Harry's worried about the article in the _Daily Prophet_ had calmed down a little. He sent Hedwig off with the letter, then made his way down to Gryffindor Tower.

When Harry came back into the common room, he was relieved to notice that Hermione was sitting alone in an armchair in front of the fireplace, a book in her lap. There were a few third-years nearby, but they seemed to be busy doing their Divination homework, snorting amongst themselves as they made up something to write in their predictions. Harry went over to Hermione and sat down in the armchair next to her, putting his backpack onto the floor beside him. Hermione looked up from her book, and upon seeing Harry immediately looked down again.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Hermione shrugged, still not looking up.

"I mean, can I talk to you for a moment without you looking into that book?"

With an exasperated sigh, Hermione closed the book and put it on the table beside her. "Yes?"

"Hermione, do we really want to keep this up?"

"Keep what up," she responded sharply.

"This. Not talking to each other when we don't have to. You obviously being angry with me still. Me using horrible grammar."

That brought a small smile onto Hermione's face, though she quickly struggled to suppress it. But Harry was glad that at least a little of the ice had been broken.

"Listen, I know that are angry with me for what I did during the summer holidays. And with Ron for allowing me to drag him into this."

"Well, I have a right to be angry, don't you think? You locked me into a broom closet!"

A few of the third years turned their heads at those words, but Hermione shot them a sharp glance and they quickly returned to their homework. Harry sighed.

"I know, and believe me that I regret it. It's just…I just didn't see any other way. I know that I've made a couple of mistakes, that I could have handled a lot of things better, but I wasn't really thinking clearly at that time. Not to mention that I didn't have much time to think it all through." Seeing that Hermione was about to say something, he quickly shook his head. "I know what you're going to say. And you are right, that didn't give me the right to do what I did."

"But still you did it. And probably would do it again."

Hermione's voice was soft, but determined. And Harry found that he couldn't reasonably disagree. He probably would do it again, because in the end it had brought Sirius back. At a price, obviously, but he didn't want that price to be the loss of Hermione's friendship.

"Yes, I probably would do it again. Knowing what I do now, I'd do a couple of things differently, but you are right in saying that I would go all those lengths again to bring Sirius back."

"The end justifies the means and all that."

Harry shook his head, feeling reminded of the conversations he had had with Remus and the Weasleys about that topic. "No, Hermione. And you should know me better than that. I admit that a lot of what I did that night was illegal, risky, not well planned and head over heels, and that it was too focussed on getting Sirius back to really think about what I was doing. That I got really lucky, and wouldn't have been able to do it alone. But I really thought that the only one I was putting at risk was myself. I know that my life is already risky enough, and believe me that I detest the idea that Ron or you are in danger simply because you are my friends. The thought tears me apart. But I won't put the two of you at risk just to achieve whatever I want. I care about my friends, I don't go around risking your lives. I'm really sorry that I locked you in the closet, Hermione. Really."

Hermione sighed deeply. "I do know that, Harry. And we've had disagreements before about whether or not to do certain things. I know that I go on yours and Ron's nerves just because I don't take rule breaking as lightly as you sometimes do. But what will happen the next time we have such a disagreement? Can you guarantee me that the next time you won't do the same if you don't see another way? Everything that brought you or us together into danger over the past years seemed very important at that point of time. And in the end we mostly realised that there would have been other ways to deal with it."

Harry swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. "This was different."

"Explain to me why, because I don't understand it, Harry."

Harry didn't entirely trust his voice, so he drew a couple of deep breaths before he continued. Nevertheless, his voice was quivering slightly. "This was about Sirius. I don't know if you understand it, Hermione, if you are able to understand what he means to me."

"I do understand what Sirius means to you, but…"

"No, you don't understand. You can't. You've had a family for all your life, you're lucky that you can't understand what it's like not to have one. To have absolutely nobody who cares. Shall I tell you how it is? Not great, not great at all. But it's bearable as long as there is no alternative. What isn't bearable is to have the promise of someone who cares in front of you all of a sudden, only to have that chance torn from you time and again, and finally for good! I needed him back, Hermione, and this time it wasn't to stop Voldemort, or to help the wizarding world, or for the greater good of mankind or whatever else people seemingly expect from me. It was for _me_. _I_ needed him back to have a reason why I shall continue to be a pawn in other people's games. I needed him back to finally have what most other people have had most of their lives – someone who cares. A family. That was why I didn't care whether I was risking my own life or not. That is why I would do it again, if there was only the remote chance to save Sirius by risking my life. And if I need Ron's or your help for that, and you are willing to help, then I would be stupid not to accept it. But while I would risk my own life at any time for Sirius, I would never, never ever, put your or Ron's life at stake for something I want. I'd never use any of you that way. I will always accept your help, even if it's for something that ends up in rule breaking. But I'd never risk your life, or Ron's life. The two of you mean too much to me. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings with what I did, I really am. If I could change one thing about what happened that night, that would be it."

Before Hermione had the chance to answer, Harry got up from his armchair, brushed past the group of third years who were pretending to be extremely interested in their homework, and hurried up the stairs to the boy's dormitories. The room was empty, which meant that his dorm-mates still had to be in the library to finish their homework, and Harry was glad about it. He flung himself down on his bed with a sigh and rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling.

After a few moments, there was a hesitant knock on the door, and as Harry gave no reply, the door opened.

"Harry?"

Harry didn't answer, but he also didn't tell her to leave. He guessed he could have, after all this was his dormitory and not hers, but he had the feeling that it would be futile to argue with her right now. He was sick and tired of arguing with Hermione.

"Harry?", Hermione asked again, and her face and mane of bushy brown hair appeared in Harry's line of vision. Harry sat up on the bed, but didn't look at her directly. After a moment, he felt the mattress sag slightly as Hermione sat down on the foot-end of the bed.

"I don't want to stay angry with Ron, or with you," she finally said. "Especially not now. It's just…probably I thought you were taking risks where you didn't need to. You're right that I didn't understand exactly why you did what you did. I didn't see how much you have grown up."

Harry raised an astonished eyebrow, but Hermione just shrugged. "I've been your friend for nearly five years now, and I thought I knew you. But I've just not seen that you've developed quite a bit from the boy you were back then. As have the reasons for why you do the things you do. You are right, I cannot understand what it is like not to have a family, and that I cannot completely understand what Sirius means to you. But though you didn't have a real family for the most part of your life, that doesn't mean you were alone. You've had us. You have us. It's not a substitute for a family, but it's more than a lot of other people have."

Harry nodded. "I never wanted to belittle what your friendship means to me. I haven't had friends for the most part of my life, I know what I have in you. But you said it yourself. As much as I care about your and Ron's friendship, it is no substitute for a family. The Weasleys are no substitute for a family of my own. Sirius might have come late into my life, but he is my family now. I need him in my life, I can't lose him again."

There were tears in Hermione's eyes. "I just think that I can't stand the thought that the world around us is also revolving. This is no longer solving puzzles to get to the Philosopher's Stone. This is about lives. It has all become so real over the past months. Every morning when I open up the paper I'm worried what I might find, what You-…what Voldemort has done now. Whose lives he has destroyed. You're in so much danger by him already, I just don't want you to risk your life even more."

Harry smiled and squeezed Hermione's shoulder. "I'll do my best not to. But I have the feeling that if this shit continues to go on like that, I won't have all that much choice."

Hermione stared down at her hands. "I know. And that's what worries me."

Harry thought for a moment, then he smiled and pulled Hermione close. "For now, I don't plan on worrying about anything but the Quidditch tryouts. Which makes me twice as glad that you're talking to me again, because I'll need all the help I can get to keep Ron from going mad about them."

They released each other and got up from the bed. "And now we'd better get down before Dean or Seamus come back and find the two of us alone up here, hugging on my bed. We'd never hear the end of that one, believe me."

Hermione smiled. "And you still have your Transfiguration essay to finish, right?"

Harry sighed deeply. "There is of course that, right. Thank you ever so much for reminding me."

Hermione stepped out of the dormitory and waited until Harry had closed the door. "Well, I could…you know, take a quick look at it. I won't write it for you, mind you, but I can help."  
"Hermione, what would I do without you?"

"Fail a couple of classes, probably." She shrugged. "I still haven't given up on Ron and you, you know? There are N.E.W.T.s coming up next year, I could not let you down now. But you need to try and keep up with your work now if you don't want your N.E.W.T.s to blow up in your face next year. So let's take a look at how far you've come with your essay."

She strode down the stairs with an air of purposefulness and Harry followed, his steps a lot lighter than they had been earlier.


	8. Duelling Detention

**Chapter 8 – Duelling Detention**

Remus had left Grimmauld Place shortly after his conversation with Sirius. Sirius knew that he had made a quick detour to Hogwarts to talk to Albus again, but other than that he had no idea at all where his friend was heading. He didn't have any doubt that Remus would find the werewolves if he truly set his mind to it, he only wasn't quite so sure whether he could leave them again just as easily. But there was nothing Sirius could do about that now, he had to rely on Remus' wits and cleverness to bring him back safely. Until then, he'd do his best to distract himself from his worries.

The basement kitchen at Grimmauld Place was in its usual state of tense activity when Sirius came down. Kingsley was kneeling in front of the fireplace, talking to Moody. Dung was sitting at the large kitchen table, smoking one of his horrible cigarettes while he was leafing through a roll of parchment. Sirius fetched himself a cup of coffee and sat down opposite of Dung.

"Remus left?"

Sirius took a sip of coffee and nodded. "How come you know about it?"

Dung moved his head in the direction of Kingsley. "I heard the talk about the werewolves. Remus' name fell once, and I can put two and two together."

"Yeah, he left. What about you, what are you doing here?"

"I got a piece of news for Dumbledore, though nobody seems to know when he'll be around the next time."

Sirius leaned back in his chair. "What news?"

"Vance has disappeared."  
"What?"

"Emmeline and I were supposed to meet at noon. She was still working through those fishy property reports."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Fishy property reports?"

"Well, yeah. We chewed that through in various Order meetings. We were trying to find possible hideouts, and she was working through an enormous list of properties all over Britain which we could not immediately connect to a certain owner or which seemed mysterious for some other reasons. Surely you must remember?"

Dung looked up at Sirius from red-rimmed, tired eyes. Sirius silently stared at him, one eyebrow raised slightly doubtful, but as it became obvious that Dung was waiting for an answer, Sirius sighed.

"If you care to remember, I wasn't exactly here for most of the summer."

"You weren't?"

Dung seemed genuinely surprised, and Sirius wondered how often Dung had been sober while being at Grimmauld Place.

"People thought I was dead. I fell through the veil in the Death Chamber. Ring a bell?"

Dung shrugged. "All right, I forgot. But anyway, Emmeline was working through those reports for the past weeks. Took her long enough, seeing that every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to own property in Britain, and not even half of them own it under their own name. But she said she had singled out three or four properties on her list which seemed to fit what we were searching for and she asked to meet with me in hopes that I could help her find out who stood behind it."

Considering that Dung had a lot of connections to people on whom the word "fishy" would be wasted as a compliment, Sirius understood that line of thought.

"And, when did she vanish?"

Dung shrugged. "We wanted to meet this evening in the _Manticore_."

"That shabby pub in Bristol?"

Dung nodded. "Yeah, I know the proprietor and had an arrangement for a business deal with him, so I thought I'd connect that and the meeting with Emmeline. But early this morning I got an owl from her and she asked that we meet as soon as possible. She insisted on us meeting here, so I came as quickly as I could. But Emmeline didn't show up. When she was half an hour late, I started searching for her, but without any success. And her place had been tossed. I came back here when the Ministry showed up at her flat."

A chair was pulled out beside Sirius and he turned to the side to see Kingsley take the seat beside him.

"I came back here after a double shift just as Dung was about to leave for Vance's place, so I went along. The place was definitely tossed, no trace of either Vance or the reports she was working on. All her paperwork seems to be gone. I was just talking to Moody, he immediately started a search for her. Without any results so far."

Sirius frowned. "Do you know if Emmeline sent that owl from her place?"

Dung shook his head. "It was a Ministry post owl. Nothing extraordinary, seeing that she's been spending most of her spare time in the Ministry archives while she was working on that property thing."  
Sirius sighed deeply. "That's not good. Either somebody was tailing and watching her, or the owl had been intercepted."

"Didn't look like it." Dung said. "Thought that doesn't have to mean anything. If you're clever, you can intercept an owl without hurting it."

Kingsley nodded. "One way or another, it can only have been a Ministry employee down there in the archives. Visitors don't get there. But we've always guessed that You-Know-Who has people in the Ministry working for him."

"Yeah, but there has to be a way to find out who has been around Emmeline today, hasn't there?"

"Far too many people. Sirius, she was in the Ministry of Magic. About five-hundred people work there, not to mention the visitors. It could have been any of them. You can get into the archives easily enough if you have the right security clearance, there is no need to sign in anywhere. And the archives isn't exactly a deserted place."

Kingsley was right, but that didn't mean Sirius had to like it. Emmeline had always been a reliable Order member, thorough to boot. If something had happened that had scared her away from the Ministry or her flat, she'd have shown up at Grimmauld Place or sent word by now. Which left only alternatives Sirius didn't particularly want to contemplate.

"Her whole paperwork is gone?"

Kingsley nodded. "It seems so. Moody didn't find anything on the property issues in her flat, and neither in her office, which by the way was not tossed."

"That means she found out something which the Death Eaters didn't want us to know. Dung, she didn't mention anything else in her letter, anything about the properties she needed your help with, or anything about the owners?"

Dung shook his head. "No, she just asked me to meet her, nothing else."

"So Emmeline worked her way through those property reports, found a couple of them she considered worth pursuing further and contacted Dung. But before they met, she found out something else, something so important that she wanted to meet at headquarters for. The other side realised that she was getting too close for comfort and stopped her from telling us about it."

Even as he said the words, Sirius didn't like the cynic tone. If things were truly as he suspected them to be, then it was probably that Emmeline would not show up again. At least not alive.

"It must have been something big she stumbled upon."

Kingsley got up from his chair. "In any case, if her paperwork doesn't show up again, we'll never know what it was that she found." He shook his head. "I just don't get it. It's been irresponsible. She and Diggle started the researches together, and it seemed as if they had not found anything of interest. She said she was going to keep an eye on things, but she never once mentioned how intense her researches were. Then suddenly she finds something else worth pursuing, pursues it without anybody else's help and now she's gone. She should have informed us sooner."

"But she didn't", Dung said with a pragmatic shrug. "I'm worried about her, and the fact that there was no Dark Mark above the building she lives in leaves some small trace of hope, but if she was getting into the Death Eaters' way, then we all know what could have happened to her."  
Sirius sighed and tiredly ran his hands through his hair. "In any case, Albus should know."

Kingsley was already standing in front of the fireplace. "I'll go and see whether he is at Hogwarts. You keep me informed if there are any news."  
He vanished into the fireplace, and Sirius sank down in his chair with a sigh. "Oh, fuck."

"Yes", Dung agreed wholeheartedly. "But seeing that everything that can be done is being done, I have an appointment at the _Manticore_ which I missed and need to make up for. You know how it is, people to see, places to go."

Sirius nodded wearily, not really paying any attention to Dung as he left the kitchen. He didn't know for how long he had sat there, staring into nothing, when again there were steps on the stairs coming towards the kitchen. A moment later the door opened and Tonks hurried into the room, her face flushed as if she had hurried a great deal to get here. She looked at Sirius for a moment with something like disappointment in her eyes.

"Are you the only one who's here?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Hello Tonks, it's nice to see you too. Sorry that I am not the one you were searching for."

Tonks sighed and sat down opposite Sirius. "Sorry. It's just that I came back from an assignment and saw Kingsley and Moody conferring. It seemed urgent, I got the feeling that something had happened. But of course I couldn't just go there and ask them, not right in the middle of the Department. What's wrong?"

"It seems that Emmeline has vanished, and somebody tossed her flat. Moody is trying to find out what he can, and Kingsley went to inform Albus. But she's neither at home nor at work, so of course we're starting to get worried."

Tonks leaned back and breathed a low sigh of relief which sounded to Sirius as if she had expected a far more horrible message. He kept on looking at her for a minute or two, until she raised her head and looked into his eyes.

"What's going on with you?"

Tonks frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, otherwise I wouldn't ask. But from the expression on your face I got the impression that you expected to come here and be told about something worse than Emmeline's disappearance." He shrugged awkwardly. "Just my impression, though."

A slight blush rose to Tonk's cheeks, but she shook her head. "It's just a general anxiety, I guess. I'm constantly worried that something horrible might happen. I mean, not that Emmeline vanishing isn't horrible, but she and I weren't really close. It's different from what happened to you earlier in the summer, and I wouldn't want something like that to happen again to anybody I…I care about."

Sirius looked at Tonks for a little while longer, but she didn't provide an explanation for her short moment of hesitation. After a few seconds he got up from his chair, fetched a cup from one of the shelves and poured Tonks some hot tea. She smiled her thanks at him as he put the cup down in front of her and sat back down.

"In any case, I'm the only one who's here at the moment. You're off shift?"

Tonks shook her head. "Technically, no. I just wanted to know what was going on, so I took off for lunch break."

Sirius frowned. "A bit late for lunch."

Tonks shrugged. "It's not as if I was supposed to be on a break anyway, not matter what it's called. Auror Lupin is going to throw a fit if he finds out that I left, but he's so busy at the moment that he wouldn't notice my absence if I were to shout around the Department that I was leaving. In any case, I plan on being back before he gets the chance to notice."

She took a sip of tea and then looked around the kitchen with a frown on her face.

"So you're the only one who's here right now?"

Sirius smiled. "Yes, I'm _still_ the only one who is here at the moment. Who were you expecting to be here?"

"I wasn't expecting anybody. I was just…well, I was hoping to catch Remus here today. There's something I wanted to talk to him about, and I'm on crazy shifts and won't be around all that much for the next couple of days."

"Well, it's not your lucky day then. Remus isn't around. He left earlier today."

"Where did he go?"

Sirius breathed a deep sigh. "You heard about Voldemort's threat concerning the werewolves?"

Tonks nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Then you can guess where Remus went to."

Tonks paled rapidly. "He didn't."  
"Yes he did. I'm not excited about it, either, but I couldn't convince him to leave it be. He left earlier today."

"When will he be back?"

"I don't know. Knowing Remus, he'll do his best to get back before the full moon, but when exactly is up to anyone's guess."

Tonks nervously tapped her fingers against the tabletop and stared down into her teacup for some long moments. There was an expression on her face which Sirius was not entirely able to read. Tonks remained silent, and a short while later she rapidly drained her tea and got up from her chair.

"I need to get back to work. I'll see you around."  
And without another word, she turned around and left the kitchen. Sirius stared after her with a frown, but then he shook his head, cleared away the cups and went back up into his room.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

The first week at Hogwarts passed in a busy blur. Harry and his friends might have fewer classes than during the years before, but all those classes were far more work-intensive than they had ever been. Professor McGonagall gave them a twenty inch essay during their very first Transfiguration lesson, Professor Sprout's projects were extremely time-consuming, and Harry didn't even want to think about Hagrid's lesson and whatever was awaiting him in the forest. His thoughts were mainly on his lessons and his homework, though it was a frustrating development for it being just the first week of school.

On the Thursday of their first duelling lesson, the Gryffindors eagerly lined up in front of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, only to find to their great disappointment that they were having those lessons together with the Slytherins as well.

"Just bloody great", Ron mumbled as they passed Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. "Dumbledore shouldn't wonder that the Sorting Hat keeps on talking about how important it is for the houses to keep their peace if he keeps on putting us in lessons with the Slytherins. Couldn't it have been Charms, or Transfiguration? No, it has to be Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Harry didn't say anything, he didn't fancy getting into a discussion with Ron about this. As much as he despised the idea of having to share his favourite lesson with the Slytherins, that way he could at least keep an eye out on Draco Malfoy. Not that the Slytherin had done anything to actively arouse Harry's suspicion ever since they had arrived at the castle. But even though he had not talked about it to Ron and Hermione, Harry was convinced that Malfoy had known about the attack on King's cross. After all, Malfoy's father was a Death Eater, Harry knew that for sure, and he was also sure that Lucius Malfoy was one of the Death Eaters who were the first to be informed about Voldemort's plans. If there was anybody here at school who knew what Voldemort was up to, then it was Malfoy. Harry wouldn't be surprised if Draco was a Death Eater by now as well. He'd use any chance he'd get to take a good look at his left forearm and find out. Maybe he could even overhear him, find out what the Slytherin was up to. He didn't think that it was likely with Professor Fairbanks present, but maybe during a lesson with Snape alone, when Malfoy wouldn't be on his guard…

At that moment, the door to the classroom opened and Fairbanks bade them to enter. Like during the previous lesson, the desks and chairs were all neatly piled up against one wall and the floor was covered in blue mats again.

"Come in, come in."

One after another, the students filed into the classroom, the Slytherins showing no particular interest in hurrying now that Professor Snape obviously would not be present during this particular lesson. Fairbanks closed the door after the last student and went past them towards the blackboard. Harry put his bag down onto the floor, a little insecure whether to remain standing around like that.

"Do sit down for a moment", Fairbanks said, gesturing towards the floor. "This won't take long, but I need to say a few words before we start."

With a bit of mumbling, the students sat down on the mats. Only Malfoy remained standing with an air of disgust around him.

"We're supposed to sit on the floor? Can't this school even afford chairs anymore?"

Fairbanks turned towards him.

"I am fairly sure that Hogwarts can afford plenty of chairs, Mr. Malfoy. It is also my information that the school does afford quite a large number of house-elves to clean up the classrooms, so if it is not beneath you to sit down for a moment, I would really appreciate it."

Fairbanks' voice had not grown louder, but there was a sharp undertone to it that made everybody shift their stares between him and Malfoy as if it were a tennis-match. Malfoy held his teacher's gaze for a few seconds, then he gave a small, disgusted sigh and sat down on the floor, careful not to touch it with his hands. Pansy Parkinson snickered silently, and Crabbe and Goyle grinned in their uniquely dumb way, but Fairbanks paid them no mind. He turned so that he faced the entire class again.

"All right, this is your first duelling lesson, so I need to say a few words about what we're going to do. We have already been practicing the most basic spells during your previous lesson, and given that you're already in your sixth year we won't keep ourselves busy with those for any longer. If there are any amongst you who realise that they have some problems mastering those spells, either find a partner to practice with or come to see me in my office at any time. For now, we'll make a couple of steps ahead."

He stepped out from behind his desk and leaned against it. "Duelling is a very wide field, in certain circles it is considered a gentlemanly art-form, but those are the forms of duelling we will not be covering obsessively. What we are going to do here is teach you techniques how to effectively defend yourself should you come into a situation where this is necessary. That implies defending yourself against attacks, facing stand-offs with opponents, and also how to behave so that you stand a chance when you're effectively outnumbered."

Malfoy snorted silently. "As if we needed that", he whispered to Pansy Parkinson, but Harry was sitting close enough to the Slytherin to hear. Parkinson started snickering again, and Harry felt his ire rise again. Of course Malfoy probably wouldn't need what Fairbanks intended to teach them. Voldemort's followers were more likely to take care to outnumber their opponents, not the other way around.

Fairbanks continued to speak, and Harry forced himself to listen to his teacher instead of waiting for Malfoy to say something else.

"However, I do believe that it would not be the wisest choice to let any of you duel two or more opponents as of now. For today, we will practice one-on-one duelling. You will split up in pairs of two, and what I want you to do is basically try to disable your opponent in whatever way you can think of. Of course, seeing that despite the fact that there's a war out there, we're still at a school and there are certain rules you have to consider. So the rules are that none of you is to use any curses that might cause lasting damage or physical harm. I don't need to mention that the Unforgivable Curses are entirely off-limits, whether at school or not."

Again, Malfoy said something that caused Parkinson to snicker, but this time Harry didn't understand. He strained to keep staring at Fairbanks and focus on what their professor was saying, trying to blend out Malfoy and his stupid, infantile jokes. It worked, though only to a certain degree. Fairbanks didn't pay any mind to the low snickering that was going on at the back of the classroom, though.

"All right, there isn't enough space for all of you to practice at the same time, so for right now we'll take turns. Two of you will duel, the others will watch closely what your classmates do. Any volunteers?"

Nobody raised their hands immediately, and Neville even tried to evade Fairbanks' eyes as he looked around the classroom.

"Nobody? Well, then I'll just have to learn some more names." He pointed at Dean and Seamus. "How about the two of you? Mr…?"

"Seamus Finnigan", Seamus said without real enthusiasm about the prospect of being the first to duel.

"Dean Thomas", Dena said in an equally unenthusiastic tone of voice.

"Mr. Finnigan and Mr. Thomas, very well. Would the rest of the class please stand back and leave the two of them some room?"

There was a lot of shuffling as the class got back to their feet and sat don again against the walls. Dean and Seamus remained standing in the middle, a few feet apart, with Fairbanks standing between them.

"Good, Mr. Finnigan, Mr. Thomas, remember: everything is allowed, just nothing that is illegal or that can cause any lasting damage. Wands at the ready, begin."

He stepped back just as Seamus and Dean drew their wands and pointed it at each other. Dean cast a Stunning Spell, but Seamus quickly cast a Shielding Spell around himself. He tried to throw a Full Body Bind into Dean's direction, but Dean had already cast another spell and Seamus found himself flung bodily against the wall behind him and his wand was knocked out of his hand. Dean held his wand pointed at Seamus, not quite knowing whether Fairbanks expected anything else from him or not. Seamus scrambled back to his feet and retrieved is wand from where it had fallen to the floor. Fairbanks clapped his hands once and stepped in between.

"Very good, thank you. Everything all right, Mr. Finnigan?"

Seamus nodded. "Yes, Professor."  
"Good. Now everybody, what have we just witnessed?"

"A very sorry excuse for a duel", Malfoy whispered to Crabbe and Goyle. He had said it lowly, but Harry had heard, and Harry also thought to detect a slight frown on Fairbanks' forehead, as if he had heard as well. But he didn't say anything, he only turned towards Hermione who had her hand raised.

"Yes, what do you think about the duel, Miss…?"

"Hermione Granger. Seamus was too slow. After he cast his Shielding Spell, he waited for too long before he cast an attack of his own. That's why Dean caught him unawares right in the middle of casting his spell."

"Partially right, Miss Granger, but while what you said is true, that wasn't the core of the problem. Anybody else got an idea?"

Hermione looked as if she had bit into a lemon, and Malfoy and Pans Parkinson started to snicker. Fairbanks turned towards Pansy.

"Have you got anything to say?"

That stopped Pansy's snickering, but as an answer she only shrugged. "Finnigan should have reacted more quickly when it was his turn. Thomas was quicker, that's all there is to it."

"No, that's not all there is to it, but there's something to what you said, though you might not even have realised it. You said _when it was his turn_, and that has been Mr. Finnigan's problem." He turned towards Seamus. "In a classical duel, you'd have been acting just right. The classical duelling form is about taking turns in trying to get past your opponents defences. But remember, we are not here to practice the art of duelling. That is not what expects you should you become involved in this war. No Death Eater or other opponent will leave you a turn at attacking them. I don't want you to wildly fire curses around you without aim, either, but I want you to be fast, and to think quick. See what your opponent does, listen to the spells he casts, and react. Don't loose too much time in waiting how your opponent reacts to your spells. See to it that he doesn't get the chance to cast another spell at you, that's what it's about. Get your opponents wand, or make him unable to use it. You have to try to become the one who is in charge of the duel, you have to force your opponent into the defending position. A duel is nothing static, it's about quick thinking, and _movement_. A moving aim is harder to hit, so whenever you think it's appropriate, dodge, duck, jump, move from side to side, do everything that makes you a harder target to hit."

"You want us to run around the classroom like chickens running from a fox?", Malfoy snarled.

Fairbanks turned towards him. "What I want to do, Mr. – Mr. Malfoy, it is, isn't it? What I want to do here is to show you what it is like when you are under attack. If you prefer to remain stationary while somebody is shooting curses at you, feel free to do that, but if you don't mind, I'd rather teach the rest of my students how to get out of a duel unscathed." He turned back towards the rest of the class. "All right, the next two volunteers, please."

This time, Parvati and Lavender raised their hands and Fairbanks called them into the middle of the classroom.

"Very good, now keep in mind what I just said. Keep moving whenever you think it's appropriate. On my count."

Fairbanks stepped back against the wall and counted for the two girls to begin their duel. Both Gryffindor girls immediately shot a curse towards the other only to dive down a moment later to evade the curse aimed at them. Parvati did so with a loud shriek, and when she aimed at Lavender for another spell, she accidentally hit the table she had ducked under. It raised up in the air, spun around its axis once, twice, three times, then suddenly soared into Fairbanks' direction. It smashed against the wall a few inches next to Fairbanks' right ear, but their teacher hardly flinched at all.

"All right, all right, stop please and get back to your starting position. Ducking is all good and fine, but you still need to keep an eye on your opponent, and especially on what you're casting your spells at. Once again, please."

To Harry's left, Malfoy was in stitches, Crabbe and Goyle were grinning stupidly, and all the remaining Slytherins seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.

"That oaf Dumbledore is even worse than my father always said. He must be pretty desperate to hire somebody like _him_. What does he teach here, chicken dances? Shrieking? Looking stupid?"

"Oh, shut up, Malfoy."

Harry just couldn't help himself, he had listened to the Slytherin's stupid comments for long enough. Malfoy turned towards him, grey eyes narrowed to slits.

"Anybody asked for your opinion, Potter? Have you already forgotten what happened the last time you thought you had to harass me?"

"You're not so courageous when those two idiots are not with you. But maybe you should pay a little more attention to class, because they won't always be there to do the dirty work for you."

"Potter, you and the sorry Gryffindors you surround yourself with might need this sorry excuse for a lesson, I'm only here because the class is obligatory. It's not as if I need this crap."

"You surely won't need it, not with your father and all the other Death Eaters covering your sorry ass. You wouldn't be half as brave if you didn't have your Death Eater for a father who bought himself out of Azkaban."

Harry didn't know where all that anger had suddenly come from, but it was there, it had flared up inside of him from one moment to the next. He had had enough of Malfoy's arrogant sneers, of his comments, of the fact that Malfoy's father had bought himself out of his arrest, that he had gone back and joined Voldemort, and that Malfoy knew what Voldemort was up to. Probably the arrogant Slytherin was well on his way to become one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, if he wasn't already one, and still he came here to Hogwarts, and everyday his presence was taunting Harry. The people Harry cared for were out there, struggling to bring down Voldemort without getting killed first, and there was nothing Harry could do to help. Instead, he had to be here and face that slimy, little, arrogant, spoilt brat who wasn't his classmate but his enemy. At that moment, it all was simply too much. Harry forgot that he was in class, and that there were other students and Professor Fairbanks around him. He barely realised that he had sprung up from his place on the floor, or that Malfoy had done the same and they were now standing face to face, their wands raised and pointed at each other.

Malfoy had paled at Harry's words about his father, but the wand in his hand was steadily pointing at Harry.

"Shut your filthy trap, Potter."

"Keep your bloody…"

_BANG!_

The other students gasped as the sound of a small explosion tore through the classroom. Something seized both Harry and Malfoy bodily and pinned them against opposite walls, their feet dangling a couple of inches above the ground. Fairbanks slowly stepped away from the wall behind his desk, the wand in his right hand pointing at Malfoy, his left hand outstretched towards Harry, effortlessly holding them in place until he came to a halt between them. Wordlessly, he brought his hands together and both Harry and Malfoy soared away from the wall and landed next to each other, right in front of Fairbanks.

"I will not tolerate this behaviour in my classroom! Twenty points from both, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Detention with me tonight, both of you. And if I hear just one more word out of line from either of you, we can easily double that. Is that understood?"

Harry and Malfoy both nodded courtly, though Harry would have rather bit off his tongue than said anything or apologised right now.

"Sit down again", Fairbanks said courtly, then went back towards his desk. When he turned towards the class again, his face was neither angry nor serious, and while he was not directly looking at either Malfoy or Harry, Harry had the impression that he was keeping a close eye on both of them.

"As I was trying to show you before Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter saw fit to interrupt me, it is vital that you keep a close eye on what your opponent is doing, but you have to try and set him under so much pressure that you become the determining factor in the duel. Thank you, Miss Patil and Brown. It's also a question of practice, in a couple of weeks you'll realise that. The next pair, please."

He gestured for Crabbe and Blaise Zabini to come forward, and the two Slytherins grudgingly did. Their duel was short, the second spell Zabini cast stunned Crabbe and he crashed to the ground, but as Fairbanks waved his wand to undo the spell and wake the Slytherin up again, the bell ran to announce the end of the lesson.

"All right, that's it for today. The next lesson will be less talking and more practices, so prepare yourself. Everybody will get to duel next week, a little practice can't hurt. Class dismissed. Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, a word please."

Everybody filed out, Ron with a quick what-can-you-do-shrug. "I'll go ahead."

"Sure."

Fairbanks waited patiently until the last students had left the classroom, then he turned towards Malfoy and Harry.

"My office tonight, eight o'clock sharp. And I won't tolerate this behaviour in my classroom ever again, just to make that clear. I am doing my best to prepare my students for what might await them, and I will not let two teenagers who think the stand above everything disrupt that. Is that clear?"

Harry opened his mouth to protest, to say that he didn't think he was standing above Fairbanks' lesson, but one look into his professor's face shut him up effectively. Everything he said now would only make his situation worse, he realised. So instead he nodded and mumbled a low affirmative to Fairbanks' question.

"Good, you're dismissed. Go and grab some lunch."

Without another word, Fairbanks closed his briefcase, put it under his arm and left the room. Malfoy threw a disgusted gaze at Harry, then he, too, hurried out of the Defence classroom. With a sigh, Harry grabbed his own schoolbag and went down into the Great Hall.


	9. Azkaban

**Chapter 9 – Azkaban**

That evening at quarter to eight, Harry packed away his Transfiguration essay and with a last longing look at the warm fire in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room he got up from his comfortable armchair and left towards his detention. Professor Fairbanks was already in his office when Harry arrived, but Malfoy was nowhere in sight. Fairbanks waved Harry into the room without looking up from the stack of essays he was correcting.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter. Do sit down, this will only take a minute."

It took a bit longer until Fairbanks finished with the essay he was correcting, and just as the professor put the parchments into a drawer of his desk, there was a short, sharp knock on the door and Draco Malfoy entered the room.

"Mr. Malfoy, just in time. Please come in and close the door after you."

Malfoy did so, a little louder than it was absolutely necessary, then he sat down on the only other free chair in front of the desk.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, I do not like to give detentions. In fact, this is the first detention I've given, and I hope it will be the last. I cannot and I will not accept a behaviour as you have shown it in my class today. So now you'll take this evening to do something useful."

"And what are we supposed to do?", Malfoy all but snarled. "Write an essay?"

Fairbanks shook his head with an amused smile. "No, Mr. Malfoy. I don't consider essays about misbehaviour to be a good way to make up for a missed lesson. When he got to know about the detention, Professor Snape informed me that he had some Putubber-pus boils that needed squeezing out, but I'd daresay that he'll soon enough have a student of his own in detention who can do that. No, when I said useful, I mean that the two of you will take this evening to practice what you didn't get to practice in lesson today."

"You want us to duel?", Harry asked.

Malfoy only laughed. "What, are you scared, Potter?"

"You wish, Malfoy!"

Harry reached for his wand, but Fairbanks interrupted before Harry and Malfoy could start where they had finished during the lesson. "All right, that's quite enough. Save your breath for when you really need it. It seems that the two of you should be just the right participants for a duel. If you'd please take up positions."

Fairbanks got up from his chair and directed Harry and Malfoy towards the free space between his desk and the door.

"Good. If you were listening just a little this morning, you should still be aware of the rules. I can see that there is no love lost between the two of you, but I don't want to see any illegal curses, and nothing that can do any lasting harm. On my count please."

He stepped out of their line of fire, stood against the wall and looked first at Malfoy, then at Harry.

"Ready? On my count. One, two, three."  
"_Rictusempra_!"

Harry flung himself down on the ground as Malfoy's curse shot towards him, then he shot a stunning spell and a Full Body Bind towards the Slytherin while he scrambled back to his feet. One look at Malfoy told him that his spells had missed, the Slytherin was still standing and was trying to aim his wand back at Harry. Malfoy cast another spell, but with a quick wave of his wand Harry drew a shield around himself and the curse bounced off. He answered with another succession of spells, trying to disarm Malfoy and to make him incapable of casting another spell, but one of his curses missed, and Malfoy rebounded the other towards him so that Harry had to take a quick step to the side to evade his own spell. Harry heard something crash behind himself, but he didn't turn around to look what it had been. Malfoy was half-hiding behind a wardrobe, making it impossible for Harry to really reach him with a spell without blasting the piece of furniture, so he took two quick steps forward until Malfoy was back in sight, cast a jelly-leg jinx and a binding-spell, and took a quick step back to bring the wardrobe between them again. But Malfoy had been anticipating Harry's move, and even while Harry cast his spells, something hit him in the shoulder and he was knocked backwards to the ground.

"All right, stop please."

Fairbanks stepped in between them again. He first went to Malfoy who had sunk down against the wall, Harry's jelly leg curse making him unable to remain standing on his own feet. The binding spell had not hit fully, but there was a length of rope around Malfoy's wand-hand that had wound itself so tightly around his wrist that the skin of his hand was turning an ugly purple. Malfoy was fumbling with the rope, but left-handed couldn't achieve much. With a quick wave of his wand, Fairbanks vanished the rope, then he countered the jinx on Malfoy's legs and pulled him back to his feet.

Malfoy was making a show out of massaging his aching hand as the blood rushed back in, but Fairbanks had already turned towards Harry and was offering him a hand to help him up.

"Are you all right, Mr. Potter?"

Harry scrambled back to his feet, all the while rubbing his aching shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine."  
"The shoulder will probably be sore for a couple of minutes, but it'll be all right."

"It's nothing."

Fairbanks looked at Harry as if he knew very well that he was not telling the truth, but then he shrugged and gestured for Malfoy to come closer.

"That was by far better than the duels we've had during the lesson so far. From today on I expect the two of you to put this much effort into what we deal with in class."

He turned towards Harry. "You reacted very well when Mr. Malfoy cast his first spell. It would have been harder if you hadn't known that the curse was coming, though. In the end you stepped directly into Mr. Malfoy's line of fire, though. In a serious duel it might have been the better choice to wait for your opponent to leave cover."

He turned around. "That reflective spell of yours was impressive, Mr. Malfoy. But while the wardrobe provided you with ample cover, it also meant that you didn't have enough room to dodge Mr. Potter's curses. Seeking cover in a duel is a wise choice, cornering yourself is not. Keep that small difference in mind. For the next lesson, I want both of you prepared and attentive. Should I find myself in the position to put the two of you in detention again, that detention will look different than today, just so that you are warned. I have a tight schedule for all my students and classes, so my lessons will require a lot of attention and discipline from you. I hope we're clear on that."

Malfoy mumbled something, and Harry grudgingly nodded. It wasn't a clearly audible apology, but Fairbanks seemed to be satisfied with it.

"Good. The two of you have leave to go. A good evening."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

The Ministry of Magic was never silent. The building never slept, on some level there was always an office still lit, somebody still bent low over a desk, working on some file or other that was due urgently, some secretary always did the filing he or she had pushed away for too long, some archivist was always chasing paper-gnomes before they could start gnawing on the old and ancient parchments. But there were quiet spots of retreat at every hour for those who knew where to seek them.

The Department of Magical Law Enforcement held no such quiet spot, neither at day nor during the night-shift. Especially not in times like these. Not even for those few Aurors who were high-ranking enough to have an own office. If there was one spot that promised to be anything but quiet, it was an office room in the DMLE. But there was one of those quiet spots not too far away from the DMLE. In fact, it was just down the corridor, then a turn to the left, a quick wand-tap against the second chandelier and through the doorway to the right that would appear if the person seeking a quiet spot would hum the first few bars of "_Quidditch on a Rainy Day_". The door opened into a small room, not overly comfortable, but equipped with an old, threadbare sofa and a window looking out onto the river Thames. Of course the view was only a magical illusion, but the main thing was that the room was quiet, and that few people even knew about its existence.

Janus Lupin was sitting on the windowsill in the small room, staring out into the grey and rainy London afternoon, counting the red buses London was so famous for crossing the river. Not on the Tower Bridge, of course, as that no longer existed, but on the bridge that led to the Houses of Parliament. Janus always forgot its name, but that didn't matter, anyway. He had counted twenty-four buses when there was suddenly the sound of monotonous humming. A moment later the door opened, and Moody came limping into the room. Janus sighed and turned away from the window.

The old Auror stood in front of the sofa for a moment as if considering whether to sit down, then he shook his head and turned towards Janus.

"I've been searching for you."

Janus raised an eyebrow. "And now you've found me, obviously."

Moody gruffly shook his head. "I never quite found out what you find in this small, dusty room. You have an office, for Merlin's sake."

"Yes, but contrary to my office, this room is quiet. At least when nobody comes in here searching for me. What is it this time?"

"Azkaban has been taken."  
Janus closed his eyes, thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Casualties?"

"Fifteen. Shift change was half an hour ago. They portkeyed there, all due to protocol, and immediately were attacked. One of the guards managed to portkey back to the Ministry, but by now they have blocked the entire island against apparition and portkey travel."

Janus leaned his head back against the wall and stared out of the window for a few moments. "They wanted us to know, otherwise that one guard would not have made it back to the Ministry."

"He could have been lucky."

"You believe that just as little as I do, Alastor. They surely took the island with a number of Death Eaters high enough to outnumber both shifts of guards. They could have killed them all immediately, but they let one escape. How much time passed between the guard's return and the first attempt to get to Azkaban? Five minutes, ten? You don't build up an apparition and portkey ward in that time. They blocked the island before and deliberately lifted the wards so that the new shift could come through. Probably thought that it would spare Voldemort to make an announcement. Whatever, I don't particularly care why they let the next shift through. But if Voldemort has taken Azkaban, it definitely spices up the situation a little."

Moody's magical eye swivelled in its socket until both his eyes were staring at Janus. "I don't think that the situation needed any spicing up."

Janus only shrugged. "Everything Voldemort does gives away a little of what he's planning. And let's face it, his taking Azkaban was as predictable as it was stupid. There's not much he can do with it. Either he can use it as a stronghold, or as a prison. Death Eaters don't take prisoners if they don't think it's absolutely necessary, so they don't really need as big a prison as Azkaban is. And while Azkaban is fortified and easy to hold once its warded up, everybody bloody well knows where it is. It's easy for us to watch that rock, it doesn't take much of our capacities away. If Voldemort was clever, he'd have chosen another place, to tie up our capacities in the search for it."

He shrugged and with a sigh got up from the windowsill.

"Anyway, I'm off shift since six. I'll go home and get some sleep."

"Fudge has ordered a meeting in an hour."

Janus laughed. "I doubt that he needs me to be there. Besides, I'm not obliged to go to meetings when I'm off shift." He stepped closer to Moody and grinned at the old Auror. "And I really, really, really have no desire to listen to our Minister whine because he's lost his favourite prison. I'd much rather go home and make up my mind about the really important questions this new situation poses."

"Oh, and which would that be?"

Janus was already at the door, but at Moody's question he turned around and raised an eyebrow. "I'll indulge you, even though I know perfectly well that you can make the deductions for yourself. One: Is Voldemort residing in Azkaban or somewhere else? Two: If he's not at Azkaban, where else is he hiding his ugly visage? Three: What is he planning to do with the prison? Four: What about the prisoners? Personally, I'm worried mostly about question number four. The Dementors might have gone a while ago, but they left enough human wrecks behind. Voldemort might find fifty, maybe sixty prisoners he could have use for, the rest wouldn't remember how to hold a wand correctly. The last thing I need is three hundred and fifty ex-prisoners in various states of insanity roaming the country." He turned back towards the door.

"Good night, Alastor."

"My office, tomorrow at eight."

Janus nodded without turning back. "Sure, whatever."

Janus left the room and followed the corridor that would lead him back to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He had not been gone long, maybe half an hour, but by now the Department was bustling with activity and there seemed to be twice as many Aurors around than there had been earlier. Nothing like the strike of a Dark Wizard to rise the working morale at the Ministry. Some Aurors looked up as Janus passed and greeted him, but most of them were too busy to even notice his presence. Janus opened the door at the far end of the Department, nodded at the secretary he shared with Moody, then opened the door to his own office and stepped into the room. He made sure to close the door firmly behind himself, but even so he knew that it would not take long before the first person came a-knocking because they wanted something from him. He had been on a double shift already, if he didn't leave quickly he'd have a third shift coming up.

Actually Janus had retreated from his office earlier to evade the much hated paperwork that was piling up on his desk. He guessed with Azkaban now in Voldemort's hands, nobody would mind if he waited another day before he finished it. Moody wanted to see him at eight, he'd just be in his office an hour early and finish those blasted reports.

Janus quickly took his coat from the hanger behind the door, reached for a file with some personal notes he had compiled and put it in his pocket, then he went over to the fireplace. As usual, he had to stifle a smile as he stood there with his hand reaching for the floo powder. Janus knew that some of the Aurors rumoured that he often slept in his office. Those rumours were not true, of course, they were mostly due to the fact that hardly anybody ever saw him arrive in the morning or leave in the evening. It was official Ministry policy that entering and leaving the building – whether by floor or apparition – was supposed to take place only in the Atrium. The fireplaces in the departments and offices were to be used solely for inter-house calls. Well, the first thing Janus had done after he had been granted his own office was to connect the fireplace there to the fireplace in his living room at home. So far, either nobody had noticed or those who had had not yet come forward to complain about it. He knew for a fact that Maggie, his and Moody's secretary, knew about his fireplace, but so far she seemed to be the only one.

When Janus arrived in his living room he put away his cloak, took the file and placed it on the kitchen table, then he turned towards the counter and brewed himself a pot of coffee. One thing about the English was that no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't get a coffee right. They brewed stuff which they called coffee, for sure, but it didn't taste like a real coffee should. So Janus ignored the pots of the brown brew that were standing around everywhere in the Ministry and stayed abstinent from it during his working days. While he waited for the coffee to brew, Janus took a shower and dressed in clean clothes. He brought a cup of coffee and the file over into his study, cleared a stack of books away from his desk, threw the file on top of that stack, sat down and began to brood.

So Voldemort had taken Azkaban.

It wasn't all that surprising, seeing that there were still Death Eaters imprisoned there, but still Janus didn't really understand it. Those Death Eaters who had still been lucid after years of imprisonment had escaped the prison last year. Those who remained were probably all suffering from the long presence of the Dementors and would not be of much use for Voldemort.

Of course, taking the biggest wizarding prison was a thing of prestige and a moral strike against the Ministry, Janus admitted as much. But aside from the question of what happened to the prisoners, the loss of Azkaban didn't really pose a big problem. There were other Ministry facilities new prisoners could be brought to.

But what worried Janus was something else entirely. Despite all the wards the Death Eaters had placed around the island, Voldemort needed to leave at least some Death Eaters there to keep it in case the Ministry tried to take the prison back. He wouldn't have taken the prison if he couldn't spare the followers to station there. And that meant that Voldemort had far more followers than Janus had anticipated.

Janus drained his cup of coffee, leaned back in his chair and stared out of the window. At least he had been able to evade the meeting the Minister was holding. He had had enough of Fudge's whining about the situation to last for a lifetime. Moody would tell him about the meeting tomorrow, and then he and the older Auror would decide on what to do next. Janus very much preferred that compared to sitting in endless meetings.

Just as Janus went back into the kitchen to fetch himself a second cup of coffee, the fireplace in the living room sprang to life. Janus cursed himself for not blocking it after his arrival earlier, but he put down his cup and went into the living room.

"_Janus, are you there_?"

Janus frowned and quickened his steps a little. It was Remus' voice, and his brother was speaking French. It happened rarely enough that Remus called Janus at home, or that he called him at all, for that matter, and on those rare occasions that he did call, he had always spoken English with Janus. They only spoke French with each other when they were in France with their father. Frowning, Janus knelt down in front of the fireplace.

"Remus?"

Remus had a haunted and dishevelled look about him, and he kept glancing back over his shoulder as if he was worried about somebody catching him. From all Janus knew, his brother was supposed to be at Grimmauld Place, tied up in whatever the Order was doing, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Is anything wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"Shhh!", Remus snapped angrily. "_I don't have much time, and I don't know if anybody is listening in._"

"_Where are you?_", Janus said, unconsciously switching into French as well, though he still didn't understand what all this was about.

"_Doesn't matter, I don't have much time. I couldn't reach headquarters, but I had to tell someone. You heard about Azkaban?_"

Janus nodded. "_Yes, I heard about it half an hour ago._"  
Remus nodded, looked over his shoulder again and then checked his watch. "_I'm fairly sure Voldemort has put the Lestranges in charge there. I don't know why, but I have the feeling that they're really trying to keep using it as a prison, and he's put his two favourite gaolers in charge of it._"

"_We can't get to Azkaban to arrest the Lestranges, anyway. They've warded the place up tight._"

Remus breathed a frustrated sigh and mussed his hair up with his hand. "_Merde. I had hoped that there would be a way to get to Azkaban. But there's something else. Somebody in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is spying for Voldemort, though I haven't yet found out who. I've heard yours and Moody's name mentioned more than once, you need to be careful whom you trust._"

Janus shook his head, desperately trying to keep up. "_Merlin Remus, where are you? What are you doing?_"

"_I can't tell you now, it would take too long to explain. I need to get a message to Sirius, you can ask him when you pass it along._"

"_What message?_"

"_That I probably won't be able to make it back before the next full moon, but that he doesn't need to worry. I'll take care, and I'll try to get into contact with him if I can. And tell him that it's urgent he keeps an eye on Harry, even if only from a distance. Harry's was the only name I've heard Greyback mention more often than yours and Moody's._"

And suddenly Janus understood. "_Merlin Remus, are you mad? Get your ass out of there before it's too late!_"

"_I need to go, someone's coming. Tell Sirius what I told you. Bye._"

And as abruptly as he had appeared, Remus' head vanished from the fireplace again. Janus sat back on his haunches and stared into the orange flames for some long minutes.

Janus wasn't close to Remus, but he knew that his little brother always thought he had to prove himself. As if being courageous would change something in the way people treated him. It was no secret that Voldemort was rounding up the werewolves. He had done it before, in the previous war, and there had been plenty of information suggesting that he would do it again. But that Remus would be so…so bloody stupid as to heed Voldemort's call in hopes of gathering information for the Order…

Janus angrily slammed his palm against his thigh and got up to his feet, ignoring the tingling both in hand and leg from the self-inflicted slap.

Greyback, he thought as he paced up and down the living room. Fenrir bloody Greyback. Janus knew more about that man than he cared to know. Ever since the resources of first the French, then the British law enforcement had been open to him, Janus had tried to learn everything he could about the werewolf Voldemort put so much trust into. Bitten himself at some point in his late teens, that man had been causing havoc ever since, and the number of people he had bitten in those thirty-odd years was by no means countable anymore. No government had ever been able to get a hold on him, and a bit more than thirty years ago he had left England and fled to France because half of the Ministry's Auror forces had been after him. It had been a chance encounter that had led him to Janus' and Remus' hometown exactly during that night when the five year old Remus had been playing outside after dark on a full moon night.

A chance encounter, odds staked high against it ever happening, but it had happened. Janus seriously doubted that Greyback remembered that night, but what he didn't doubt was that once Greyback found out who Remus was and what he was trying to do, he'd kill him. And even if Greyback didn't find out, werewolves didn't particularly care for those of their kind who tried to live as part of the wizarding society like Remus had done all his life. Bloody great. And Janus had no idea where his brother was, or where Voldemort intended to let the werewolves strike. He was sure that Remus would have told him if he had known the latter, but without knowing where his brother was, Janus also had no means to contact him.

Just bloody great. He'd have to ask Moody to keep an eye out on any news on Remus, but then again he didn't doubt that Moody knew more about Remus' whereabouts than Janus did.

Janus went back into the kitchen and poured himself another cup of coffee. That was exactly why Janus couldn't share his brother's enthusiasm for the Order, and the so called resistance work they were doing. There was no control over it, no control at all. If everybody was trying to infiltrate Death Eaters, the Ministry would soon no longer know who the bad boys were and who not.

Back in the study, Janus slammed his cup down onto the desk and threw himself back in his chair. Some of the coffee had spilled over the desktop, and absent-mindedly Janus traced the outlines of the light brown blobs. Fantastic. What was he supposed to do now? Work through some files and then go to bed as he had planned earlier? Hardly possible. Well, thank you very much for that, Remus Jonathan Lupin. And what now?

Janus slowly sipped his coffee, then threw a glance at his watch. Quarter past seven. Well, if Remus wanted him to pass along a message to Sirius, then Janus would do. And he would get some answers from his brother's friend along the way.


	10. Trying Out

**Chapter 10 – Trying Out**

Saturday morning, Ron sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast with a slightly greenish tinge around his nose. Harry had to stifle a smile. Ron had gloriously saved the Gryffindor team during their last game of the previous year, but obviously the memory of that was not as strong as the memory of all the taunts he had had to endure before. Harry knew that Ron was a good keeper. He might not be world class, but this here was not the World Championship, either. Ron was definitely good enough to be the keeper for Gryffindor, but he had a serious problems with his nerves.

When Ron made no move to put anything to eat on his plate, Harry reached for two slices of buttered toast and put them on Ron's plate, then added a blob of strawberry jam.

"Eat something. It's of no use if you starve yourself."

"Easy for you to say, mate. Nobody ever challenges your position."  
While that was true, Harry also couldn't quite understand what all the fuss was about. "Just try to relax. You're good, Ron, you know that as well as I do. So you go out there and do exactly what Angelina tells you to do. It'll be fine. I highly doubt that McLaggen is better, but even if he is, he'll have to win his place on the team first. Just don't pressure yourself into anything."

Ron's face twisted into a disbelieving grimace, but he laboriously swallowed down one slice of toast before it was time to go down to the Quidditch pitch.

Angelina and a group of Gryffindor students of various ages were already there, lined up beside the pitch. Harry raised his head and quickly scanned the stands around the pitch. A few people were there, but no large group of Slytherins, fortunately. That might spare Ron the taunts, cheers and songs, at the least. Harry saw Luna and Hermione sitting in one of the rows, waving down at him as he passed. He smiled and waved back, but Ron didn't seem to notice them. In fact, Ron didn't seem to notice anything at all. He nodded numbly when Angelina told him to stand over beside Cormac McLaggen, the seventh year who was also trying out for keeper. Ron nodded numbly and stood beside the other Gryffindor without so much as casting a glance at him.

There were a number of open positions on the team, they needed two new beaters and two new chasers. And while Ron had been Gryffindor Keeper for the past school year, it was a rule that if somebody challenged his position and wanted to try out for it, then he should be given the chance. The decision of who would be in the team was solely Angelina's alone, and Harry didn't envy her for it. They all liked Ron, but it was a fact that he had that thing about his nerves going. So Harry hoped with all his might that McLaggen would prove to be the worse keeper than Ron and spare Angelina the contemplations whom to chose.

Nobody was trying out for the position of Seeker, so Harry stood to the side while Angelina lined up the applicants for chaser. She joined Harry at the sideline as the nine Gryffindors who were trying out first soared around the pitch on their brooms to show their ability at flying.

"I guess that this won't become an easy morning, so I'll be glad about your input."

Harry nodded wordlessly and watched a second-year nearly fall off his broom in an attempt at elegantly circling the goalposts. "Not the one who nearly fell off just now, we need people who know how to stay on their brooms. I'm just not so sure whether I can really give you a neutral opinion on the keeper question."  
Angelina chuckled. "I don't quite know whether I'm neutral in that question, either. To be blunt, McLaggen is an ass, but we'll have to see how he flies later on. Then we'll see hat's best for the team."  
Harry nodded wordlessly and watched his housemates fly around the pitch. After a few more minutes, Angelina started shouting out orders and calling manoeuvres, and after that she split the applicants up and let the play with a Quaffle. Harry was relieved to find that Ginny was not playing half bad, in fact she was one of the best on the pitch and scored five goals in just as many minutes.

After ten minutes of play, Angelina blew her whistle and called the chasers down.

"All right, thanks for now. Please stick around, we're going to need you later for the shots against the keepers, then I'll make the decision. Now the beaters please!"

The flying procedure repeated itself, only that this time Angelina handed out bats and let a Bludger loose. Ten minutes later, the decision of the new beaters was done. Two of the five applicants were on their way to the hospital wing with bleeding noses, and a fourth-year girl by the name of Annabel Walton remained on her broom solely for the reason that she had been keeping a thirty foot distance to the other beaters and the Bludger for the entire time. It came down to a fourth year named Horatio Sweeps and – much to Harry's surprise – Colin Creevey.

"They're not Fred and George, but they'll do", Angelina said as she blew the whistle and called them down. Harry nodded and with rising nervousness watched Ron and McLaggen rise on their brooms and fly around the goal posts to warm up. Angelina called the applicants for the chasers towards her and started to explain.

"All right, we're going to keep the two teams we had earlier, four of you per team. Ginny, your team is going against McLaggen, the other team is going against Weasley. I know it's one chaser more than normally, but that should keep the keepers on their toes. When I blow the whistle again, we're going to take five penalty shots against each keeper, then I'll tell you who'll be on the team. All right, let's go."

The chasers raised up in the air, Angelina tossed the Quaffle in and the game began.

"I'll watch the keepers, you best keep out an eye out for the chasers. Right now I'm tending to take Ginny and Eric Pouters, but let's see how they handle this."

Harry nodded absent-mindedly, a little glad that he had an excuse not to watch Ron too closely. If he was already this nervous about it, then how must Ron be feeling now? His friend was too far away to see anything clearly, but Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Ron was entirely green right now. But instead of giving in to the temptation of watching Ron, Harry did as Angelina had bid and kept his eyes on the chasers.

Ginny was good, Harry had to admit that. He had seen her fly before, at the Burrow, and he knew that last year when she had taken over for him in the position of Seeker, nobody had voiced any protest about her, either. Training with her six brothers did that to her, obviously. The other chaser Angelina favoured, Eric Pouters, was in Ginny's year as well. He was a good flyer, admittedly. Left-handed, and to Harry it seemed as if he was a little insecure whenever a pass was made to him from the right. Should Angelina decide to take him into the team, she'd have to take care to place him in the right field so that not all that many passes came to him from the right. Chasers were constantly moving along and across the pitch, but if they took Pouters into he team they'd have to think of a way of making it easier for him. And they needed to train passes from the right with him, that should do the trick.

The other chasers were all doing well, but not really well enough to get on the team in Harry's opinion. There was a third year, Nicholas Drabbet, who was flying extremely well, but it was obvious that he didn't have that much experience at playing Quidditch. A little training over the year and he would be a hard candidate for the Chaser position next year when Angelina's spot became vacant.

Harry watched the chasers for a few minutes longer, careful not to watch Ron too closely, until he heard Angelina's whistle.

"Everybody form up for penalty shooting!" Angelina yelled up and mounted her broom. Before she flew off, she turned towards Harry.

"And, what do you think?"

"Ginny and Pouters should do the job. But Pouters needs to work on his right side, we'll need a bit of training to get that working. Maybe we should put Drabbet into reserve, he flies extremely well."

Angelina nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that. He's muggle born, never sat on a broom before he came to Hogwarts. His fling developed extremely well over the past two years, but outside of the house teams there is no real opportunity to play Quidditch here, so he doesn't quite know what to do with the Quaffle once he has it. You're right, with the right training he should become a good player. All right, let's get those penalties over and done with."

She mounted her broom and soared up to the goalposts where Ron and McLaggen were waiting for her. She spoke a few words to both of them, then McLaggen fell back and Ron took up position in front of the middle post while five players lined up to shoot the penalties.

Harry found his heart beating fast in his chest as Angelina took the Quaffle and got into position. Please let Ron get the first shot, please let him get it, he found himself whispering. If Ron missed the first shot, then his nerves would be blank. Angelina came soaring towards the goalposts, threw the Quaffle hard without as much of an indication as to where it would go, and Harry only saw Ron shoot towards the left, nearly crashing into the hoop, but a moment later he pulled his broom up and passed the Quaffle back to Angelina. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. One down, four more to go.

In the end Ron caught all penalties except one, ironically the one Ginny had thrown, feigning that she was going to the left and then swivelling hard to the right at the last possible moment. Ron was on his way into the wrong direction and had absolutely no chance to even get near the Quaffle. Harry cast a quick glance at McLaggen and saw the seventh year hovering just out of range of the goalposts, his face an expression of distaste.

Angelina waved him forward and he flew towards the goalposts, intentionally flying in Ron's way so that Harry's friend had to swivel hard to the left to avoid a collision. McLaggen, too, caught four of the five penalties, though he missed the fifth only by a hairsbreadth and it jumped into the hoop from the tip of his fingers.

Once the penalties were done, Angelina blew her whistle and signalled for everybody to descend back to ground. Harry stepped into the idle of the pitch along with the applicants and awaited Angelina's decision.

"All right, that was good flying. Thanks to everybody for trying out. You all know that we only have five spots to decide over, those of you who don't make it today should definitely try out again next year. Here's what I've decided. Ginny Weasley and Eric Pouters are the new chasers. Though Pouters, we definitely need to work on what you do when the game is going on to your right. Drabbet, I want you to join our training sessions as a reserve player. Your flying is very good, but you need to learn a lot more about the game if you ever want to be on the team."

A huge smile spread across Drabbet's face and he nodded eagerly. Ginny was smiling slightly, though Harry knew that she had to be extremely proud of herself for being on the team again. Pouters seemed slightly unsure about Angelina's remark about his right side, but that they would tackle in their first training session.

Angelina nodded at the other applicants. "Thanks for trying out today, sorry that you can't make it all onto the team. As for the beaters, Sweeps and Creevey are on the team. Ron Weasley will stay our keeper."

Ron paled, Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and McLaggen grew red with anger from one moment to the next. "You can't be serious!", he all but yelled at Angelina. "Weasley was a mile away from the last penalty, and I nearly had all of them! It's me who should be on the team!"

Angelina made a step towards McLaggen and drew her eyebrows together. "I am the one who makes that decision. Yes, you were closer to getting all penalties than Ron was. But while that's good, penalties are often a thing of luck. I watched you both during the mock game, and let me tell you that I certainly don't want a keeper who spends his whole time shouting orders at the other players. I am the captain, if anybody shouts orders, it's me. You're a good flyer, McLaggen, you're a good keeper, but so is Ron. And Ron fits better into the team than you do."  
"Because his sister and his best friend are on the team, that's what you're saying, isn't it?"

Angelina was angry now, Harry could see that. "No, because he is a team player and you are not. You might do better in an individual sport, like broom racing. Because you are no team player, McLaggen. That's my final word."  
McLaggen was breathing hard. "I'll take that up to McGonagall."

Angelina shook her head. "Do what you think you have to do. But she'll only tell you that I am the captain and it's my decision. I need a team I can work with and you are no part of it. That's my final decision, McLaggen."  
Without waiting for a response, Angelina turned towards the rest of the team. "I booked the pitch for next Saturday at ten. We'll have training once a week from then on, our first game is already in October. Thanks everybody, that's been it."

Those who had remained behind slowly dispersed. McLaggen was the first, storming off angrily into the direction of the castle. Angelina blew a sigh of relief at his retreating back. "Merlin, I'm glad he's not in the team. He's hard to work with." She turned towards Harry. "Thanks for the input. I need to get the balls back into the storage room, I'll see you on Saturday."

"Yeah, bye."

As Angelina left, Harry turned towards Ron with a huge smile on his face. "You're on, mate."

Ron smiled hesitantly. "Yes, seems so. I can't quite believe it yet."

"You'll believe it soon enough when Angelina starts torturing us during the first training session. Come on, let's go up to the castle for lunch."

Ron's smile widened. "Yeah, I'm hungry."

On their way back, Hermione, Ginny and Luna joined them. Ginny and Ron blushed equal degrees of red when everybody congratulated them for their places on the team, but soon Ron was entertaining Hermione with the heroic tale of how he had anticipated Angelina's direction during the first penalty shot.

Harry fell slightly behind with Ginny and Luna at his side.

"There's something I wanted to ask you", Ginny suddenly said. Harry felt a completely irrational lurch somewhere between his chest and stomach.

"Y-Yeah?", he all but stammered. He quickly cast a glance at Luna, but the Ravenclaw's face was impassive and detached as ever.

"Luna, Neville and I have been talking yesterday. We were wondering whether you want to continue with the DA this year."

As her words progressed in his brain, Harry couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, though he could not quite explain why. When that feeling settled, confusion set in.

"The DA? I haven't really thought about it, to be honest. I mean, we have a lot of practical defence lessons this year, we don't really need to go on with it."  
Ginny shrugged. "Yes, but we thought it was a good idea nevertheless. Fairbanks keeps on pointing out that we should practice outside of lessons if there is something we don't master immediately. And the DA was good for that. Neville said he felt far more comfortable in the DA than he ever did in lessons, and I can imagine that a lot of others would want to continue as well. We wouldn't need to meet as often as last year, but maybe once a week or so. We wouldn't need to hide anymore, we could even turn it into an official club."

Harry frowned and turned towards Ginny. "You've spent quite some thought on that."

Ginny shrugged. "The DA was fun, and it helped in lessons. All those who were members last year are doing a lot better in lessons than the others. I don't see why we should give that up. And we could practice some useful things which Fairbanks doesn't cover in lessons."

"Let me guess. You've spoken to everybody who was in the DA last year."  
Ginny grinned and shrugged. "Nearly. And they all want to continue. They all thought you did a very good job in teaching. Are you going to think about it, or do I need to keep on flattering you?"

Harry smiled. "I think about it. I'll talk to McGonagall as soon as I can, ask her what it takes to make the DA official. It can't hurt to have a place to practice, that's definitely right."

Ginny grinned. "You see? It wasn't all that hard."  
They reached the castle soon after that and went into the Great Hall for lunch. Harry smiled as he saw how Ron was now entertaining Seamus and Dean with the tale of how he had gotten onto the team. Cormac McLaggen was sitting at the far end of the table, angry and brooding, occasionally throwing distasteful glances at Ron, but Harry ignored him and sat down beside Hermione. He certainly wouldn't allow McLaggen to ruin Ron's good mood about making the team. Over lunch, he'd ask Hermione what she thought about continuing the DA, then he'd think about when best to take the matter to McGonagall.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Sirius came back to Grimmauld Place after spending an entire afternoon with Dung in search of any trace of Emmeline Vance. They had found none, none at all, not even a hint as to where she could have vanished to. By now, Sirius no longer held any doubts that she had somehow fallen into the hands of Death Eaters. But Death Eaters normally didn't particularly bother about hiding the bodies of their victims. Emmeline's body hadn't been found anywhere, which gave Sirius at least a little hope that she was still alive, but even if that was so, they were not a step closer to finding her.

Dung would come to headquarters later, there was still some "business" he needed to take care of, and in all honesty Sirius didn't quite want to know what exactly that was. Wearily, Sirius went down into the basement kitchen at headquarters and let himself fall into the nearest chair. He was hungry, but eating would mean he'd have to get up again. But getting up also meant that he could fix a coffee for himself. Dilemma. Getting up or not?

While Sirius still contemplated whether a coffee and something to eat would be worth the effort of getting up, the flames in the fireplace suddenly roared to life, turned green and a split second later somebody came rushing out of the fireplace into the kitchen.

It was no unusual occurrence that people came to Grimmauld Place by floo, but Sirius was stunned when he realised just who had arrived there. Janus brushed some soot off his robes, looked around the kitchen and as soon as he saw Sirius sitting at the kitchen table, his eyes darkened, his face set into an angry mask and he came hurrying over towards him.

"You and I need to talk."

Sirius got up from his chair because he didn't feel overly comfortable with Remus' brother towering above him.

"Has anything happened?"

"You tell me", Janus snapped. Sirius silently raised an eyebrow, then he shook his head and went over towards the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee. He and Janus had never gotten along overly well, he shouldn't expect a good conversation to come out of this. In an attempt to be polite, he wordlessly waved the coffeepot in Janus' direction. Remus' brother nodded courtly, so Sirius filled a second mug and carried them over towards the table. Janus made no move to sit down, but Sirius was tired and in no mood for power play, so he sat down and gestured for Janus to do the same. When Remus' older brother made no move to sit down, Sirius sighed in exasperation.

"In Merlin's name, sit down. I for sure won't keep standing around here, and looking up at you gives me a crick in the neck. So if you think we need to talk, sit down."

Janus hesitated for a moment, then he pulled out the chair opposite of Sirius and sat down.

"So, what is it?"

"Where is Remus?"

Sirius leaned back in his chair and contemplated the possible answers to that question. How did Janus even know that Remus was not at Grimmauld Place anymore?

"How do you know that he's not here? Have you heard anything about him?"

Janus angrily shook his head. "I haven't heard anything _about_ him, I have heard _from_ him. And because my little brother didn't want to tell me anything, you are going to do that now."

Sirius sipped some coffee and raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"

"If you want to hear the message I'm supposed to pass along to you, you'd better tell me what you know."

"That's blackmail."

Janus shrugged. "So you say. If it gets me the answers I want to have, I don't particularly care whether it suits you or not. So, where is Remus, what in Merlin's name does he think he's doing, and whose incredibly stupid idea was it for him to bring himself into such a bloody dangerous position?"

"It seems to me that you already know just as much as I do. Voldemort is rounding up the werewolves, Remus thought he could get information so he left. I can't tell you where he is, I can't tell you when he'll be back, all I can tell you that it was Remus' own idea. Nobody forced him to do it. In fact, all the people who got to know about it were against it."

"But still you let him leave."

Sirius was getting angry, but he forced it down. "If you knew your brother a little better, you'd know that it was not a question of _letting_ him leave. Remus wanted to go, so he did. He's an adult, he's capable enough to take care of himself, and he's too stubborn to let anybody talk him out of something when he's made up his mind. That's hereditary, I'd guess. I haven't heard from him since he left. You have, obviously, so I think you ought to tell me what you know."

Janus leaned back in his chair and took a long sip of coffee, deliberately drawing out the moment of wait for Sirius. But Sirius remained silent and didn't let his friend's brother goad him. After a few seconds, Janus put down his cup and folded his arms across his chest.

"Remus called me at home, a little less than an hour ago. He said that he hadn't reached anybody here, and that he had news and a message to pass along."

"And? What news? What message?"

Janus hesitated for a moment, as if contemplation what to tell and what not. Then he gave a small shrug.

"He got to know that Voldemort has taken Azkaban."  
Sirius sighed. "Shit."  
"Exactly", Janus said dryly. "The Ministry got to know about it shortly before Remus called me, so I'm fairly sure that Moody will tell you all the details. He's in a meeting with the Minister right now and should be back as soon as this is over. Remus says that the Lestranges are in charge there now, but so far we don't have a way to check that information. But you'd have gotten to know that sooner or later; Remus sent me to pass along another message."

"Which would be?", Sirius said, getting a bit impatient with how Janus was stretching this meeting beyond what was necessary.

"First of all you can congratulate yourself for letting Remus leave. It seems he has found Fenrir Greyback, just so you know. The last time those two met, Remus nearly died."

"The last time those two met, Remus was only five years old! I will tell you only once more that I am not the one who decides what Remus does and what not, that's up to Remus alone. If you cared about whether Remus is in danger or not, then maybe you should talk to your brother occasionally, or show a little interest in where he goes and what he does! And don't tell me that you give a damn, because I know that you don't. So don't be so self-righteous and tell me what you came here to tell. I you want to play those silly little games, then leave and search somebody else to bother with them!"

Janus only smiled lazily. "My, my, my. It seems that not even the archway in the Death Chamber could dampen your temper. Still so fierce about my little brother's wellbeing. What are you going to do, send me howlers again?"

Sirius balled his hands into tight fists. "Janus, stop it. Say what you want to say and then go."  
Janus only grinned again. "All right. First of all, Remus told me to warn you about Harry Potter. Seems that the Death Eaters have an increased interest in getting to him, so Remus wants you to check up on him regularly."

Sirius paled a little, but forced himself to remain calm. "Harry is at Hogwarts. He's as safe as he can get."

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on it. Hogwarts is strongly secured, but it's not perfectly safe. But you surely know best what to do about that. The other message was more of a personal nature, and I can imagine that Remus was a little glad that he didn't have to deliver it personally. He doesn't know yet whether he'll make it back from wherever he is before the next full moon. But he said not to worry, he's taking care."

Janus drained his coffee and got up from his chair. "I hope you're still glad about letting Remus go join the werewolves. I for one don't know whether it was the best choice. I know that he's stubborn and strong-willed, but sometimes others simply have to make the choices for him. My little brother loves to burden more onto himself than he can bear. So I wish you a lot of fun dealing with him should he come home after having run free on a full moon night. He's been a werewolf for thirty-three years without killing somebody, and right now he's about to put an end to that. But of course, Remus made that decision for himself and thinks it's for the best, so there's no need to burden your conscience with whatever is about to happen. Good day to you, Sirius."

Sirius didn't even have the chance to react to Janus' words. Remus' brother immediately strode over towards the fireplace, reached for the floo-powder and in a swirl of green flames and black robes was gone as abruptly as he had come.


	11. Suspension

**Chapter 11 - Suspension**

After Janus had left the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, Sirius remained sitting in his chair for a few minutes, too stunned to move. He hadn't thought that Remus would find Greyback so quickly, but that was not what had him so bothered. Finding Greyback had not been the main cause of worry for Sirius right from the start. No, the real reason why he was worried was that message about the next full moon.

The thought that Remus was actually considering it possible that he would not come back before he next full moon was worrying Sirius horribly. Remus needed to have a safe place for the transformation. Wherever he was now, he had no access to the Wolfsbane Potion, and without that control Remus needed to be locked up during full moon. Sirius knew his friend well enough to know that a night out of control would break Remus. If Voldemort truly sent the werewolves to attack as he had threatened, Remus simply could not be a part of that. It would break him if he hurt or killed somebody.

"Fuck!", Sirius yelled and slammed his palm so hard onto the table that his cup of coffee tumbled and fell over. He watched the rivulets of light-brown coffee spill across the tabletop, then decided that this would not bring him any further. With a wave of his wand, he cleaned up the mess, then he got up and went over towards the fireplace. Crouching down, he threw a pinch of floo-powder into the flames.

"Hogwarts, headmaster's office!"

It took a little moment, then Sirius found himself looking into Dumbledore's face. The old headmaster smiled at him. "Sirius, is anything amiss?"

"I need to talk to you."

Dumbledore nodded. "I can imagine what this is about. Do you want to come through?"

Dumbledore's face vanished, and Sirius prepared to floo to Hogwarts. He didn't really wonder that Dumbledore had not been surprised about his call. He had given up wondering about Dumbledore a long time ago.

When Sirius arrived in the headmaster's office, he immediately understood just why Dumbledore had not been surprised. Severus Snape was sitting in a chair in front of the headmaster's desk, glaring at Sirius. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was all the smiling and friendly host.

"Sirius, do sit down. Can I offer you a cup of tea?"

"No, thank you", Sirius said as he sat down and moved his chair as far away from Snape as he could. With a last glare into the direction of Snape, he turned towards Dumbledore. "I take it you already know about Azkaban?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, Alastor informed me ten minutes ago, before he went into a meeting with the Minister. If I might ask, how come that you do know?"

"Remus' brother showed up at Grimmauld Place. Remus found out and called him."

A slight frown showed on Dumbledore's face. "He did? I wonder where he got that information."

"Greyback. I don't know, but I would guess that he wasn't told but rather overheard it. Remus wouldn't be stupid enough to try and get into a position close to Greyback. The risk would be too high."

Snape sneered. "Who knows what Lupin does now that he's amongst his own kind."  
Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Dumbledore cut him off. "Severus, this is neither the time nor the place. I trust Remus to know how far he can go. Did he tell his brother anything else of interest?"

"He is fairly sure that Voldemort left the command at Azkaban to the Lestranges."  
Dumbledore looked at Snape, who shrugged. "It's possible. Knowing Bellatrix and Rudolphus, I'd even say it's probable. They shouldn't have any qualms about returning to Azkaban if it's in the role of a gaoler this time. That's what they do best. But if that is truly the case, then the Dark Lord has to populate the prison, and sooner rather than later. Rudolphus and Bellatrix need something to keep them occupied."

Dumbledore didn't look all that pleased by that revelation, and in all honesty Sirius wasn't either, but what Snape said made an eerie sense. The Lestranges were most famed for their special talents in torturing people, as sad as it was. Dumbledore drummed his fingers onto the tabletop for a short moment, then looked up at Sirius.

"Was there anything else that Remus had to report?"

Sirius didn't want to discuss the fact that Remus maybe would not be back before the next full moon, not in front of Snape. There would be time enough to inform Dumbledore of that later, full moon was still a little while away.

"A strong warning to keep an eye out on Harry. Voldemort seems to want him badly."

Dumbledore nodded with a sad sigh. "Yes, and with every day that grows worse. Harry remains the living proof of Voldemort's failure, and he escaped him far too often already. For as long as Harry remains at Hogwarts, he is relatively safe. It's outside of the castle that would provide the Death Eaters with an opportunity to strike."

Sirius leaned back in his chair. "That means as soon as Harry leaves the castle grounds, he'll have a guard again. He won't like that."

"But it's necessary. The first Hogsmeade weekend is coming up."

Snape sneered. "Just don't let him go to the village. A few Butterbeers and a visit to the sweetshop certainly don't justify the effort of putting a guard on him. He'll have to see that he's safer at the castle, not matter Potter's personal inconvenience."

"Fortunately that's not your decision, Snape", Sirius snapped back. "I'll personally take him to the village when the time comes, don't worry yourself about it."

"Gentlemen, please." Dumbledore shook his head disapprovingly. "Rest assured that Harry's Hogsmeade visits are in no danger. For as long as it is reasonably justifiable, I will not treat Harry any differently than any other student. There will be precautions taken during the Hogsmeade weekends, we certainly don't need to worry about this now." He turned towards Sirius. "Considering the situation in Azkaban, we'll hold a meeting tonight. Alastor will drop by headquarters as soon as the meeting with the Minister is over."  
Sirius nodded and got up from his chair. "I'll inform the Weasleys and try to find Dung."

"Thank you, Sirius."

Before Sirius could step over towards the fireplace, Snape also got up from his chair and went over towards the door. "I trust that you have no further need of me. I have work to do."

"Of course, Severus. Thank you for your time."

Snape vanished without another word, and before Sirius could leave as well, Dumbledore turned towards him again. The older wizard didn't speak fro a long moment, he just watched Sirius with a slight frown on his face.

"Was there anything else that you didn't want to mention in front of Severus?", he finally asked.

Sirius shrugged a little uncomfortably. "A good question. Might be, might not be."  
Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Sirius, while I have no qualms, even in the face of modesty, to acknowledge that I am a very gifted wizard, I am not a clairvoyant."

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "It might be nothing. I wouldn't put it past Janus to have made the whole thing up, but according to him, Remus said that he wasn't yet sure that he'd make it back before the next full moon."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully and stroked his beard. "I see. But I'm afraid that there is nothing at all we can do about that now."

"Yes. And that worries me." Sirius shook his head. "I'd best go and tell Molly about the meeting tonight, it might take some time before I'm able to locate Dung. I'll see you tonight, Albus."

"Until then, Sirius."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry didn't like Transfiguration. That was a new development. Up until this year, while it had not been his absolute favourite subject, he had never really dreaded going to the lessons. It seemed that this was going to change now. The first few lessons had shown that all their subjects were getting increasingly more difficult, with the N.E.W.T.s approaching next year and the teachers doing their best to prepare them for the war, yet Transfiguration seemed to become the biggest nuisance of them all. For the past one and a half hours, Harry had done his best to try and understand the theory behind transfiguring a human into an inanimate object, but had found himself unable to achieve it. It was supposed to be similar to transfiguring mice into teacups like he had already mastered years ago, but whenever he raised his wand to attempt the transfiguration McGonagall demanded of the class, nothing happened. Ron remained just as he was, and no amount of wand-waving could transform him into a chair like McGonagall had said.

It didn't comfort Harry in the slightest that everybody else in the class was having similar problems, even Hermione. Mentally, Harry was writing down a list of questions he'd write to Sirius as soon as he got the chance to do so. His godfather had been good in Transfiguration, maybe there was a way he could explain to Harry what McGonagall could not.

When the bell rang to announce the end of the lesson, the entire class sighed in relief. McGonagall clapped her hands to get the attention of the students before they left.

"I want you all to practice this until next week. The performance today was horrible, if you don't mind me saying so. Practice with smaller animate objects if you don't master transfiguring your classmates immediately. Transfiguring humans into inanimate objects is a very important concealment technique, I want you all to master it in the next couple of weeks. That's it, class dismissed."

While everybody else hurried to get out of the Transfiguration classroom to grab lunch in the Great Hall, Harry took his time in packing his things, waiting until everybody had filed out. McGonagall was busy putting a stack of essays into her briefcase as Harry stepped up to her desk. McGonagall looked up.

"Mr. Potter?"

"Professor, there was something I wanted to ask you."

"Of course. What is it?"

"We – that is me and some others – we wanted to found a club. Actually, we kind of already had it going last year, but with Professor Umbridge we couldn't make it official. But now we wanted to."

McGonagall's expression had darkened for a moment when Harry had mentioned the previous year's Defence against the Dark Arts professor, but it only lasted for a short moment. She sat down on her chair again and gestured for Harry to take a seat. He leaned against one of the tables in the front row, half-sitting down on it.

"And what kind of club would that be?"

"A Defence Club. Defence against the Dark Arts. We've been practicing defence spells and stuff last year, mostly because Professor Umbridge didn't teach us anything of the sorts. Of course we got lessons in Defence again this year, even those additional lessons with Professor Snape, but it worked out well last year. We could practice what we learn in the lessons, so that those who didn't immediately master the spells can catch up."

Professor McGonagall listened to Harry's words without any perceptible reaction. After he finished, she remained silent for a moment, then she nodded.

"I see. And you would lead that club?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "If a club requires an official leader, then I think I would do it, yes. But last year we all decided on what we wanted to learn – basic spells and hexes so far – and those who were good at them helped the ones who were not so good. Sirius and Remus gave me some very good books on Defence last year, we mostly used those. Now I think it would depend on what we learn during the lesson."

McGonagall nodded again. "Actually, Mr. Potter, I think this is an excellent idea. Professor Fairbanks did remark already that all years had to catch up on their defence lessons, and I think I don't have to tell you that defensive magic is something we are very keen on teaching our students at the moment."

"Then you allow us to make that club official?"

"There are a few things we need to talk about first. First of all, a club indeed requires some sort of official leader. Now, that isn't as serious a matter as it sounds, but students as well as teachers need somebody they can turn to when questions or problems concerning the club arises. But you don't need to carry that responsibility alone, a club can also have two or three people responsible for it. We simply need a contact person, somebody the students can turn to when they join the club, or when they have a problem with another club member. Also, the Hogwarts clubs require a certain educative purpose, but that is a very generally defined term, and I don't think we need to worry about that in case of your club. Have you made up your mind about whether you want to make this an open club?"

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Whether the club shall be open only for Gryffindors to join, or for all houses. Or whether only students of certain years are allowed to join. Especially if you want to teach Defence against the Dark Arts, it might become very work intense if you're trying to accommodate the schedules of all seven years."

"To be honest Professor, I haven't thought about it. Last year, we didn't really think about houses or years when we founded the club. It started in Gryffindor, but there were also Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. And it were mostly students from our year, or the year below."

McGonagall nodded, then she pulled a piece of parchment from her briefcase and wrote something down on it.

"Then let's settle on this for now: I think it should be no problem to officially allow you to found a Defence club. I don't see any reason why it should be. I would advise you to talk to Professor Fairbanks about it, he will surely be able to help you with the question of how much sense it makes to open the club for all years. If I might make a suggestion, I would open the club to students from fourth year onwards, those are the years where the students learn most practical defence moves. Before that, it's mostly theory and creatures. Talk to Professor Fairbanks about what will be useful to learn, then talk to the other students with whom you want to found the club about day and time when the meetings are supposed to take place. It would be good if there was a contact person in every house, so that the students can approach them about joining the club. I'm sure Professor Fairbanks will take up the role of the club's mentor, in case you need help with anything."

"Okay. I'll ask him directly."

McGonagall nodded again. "Good. Once everything is settled, you tell me about it and then you can put up notices on the notice boards in the common rooms. The only thing is that you'll have to keep official record of the club members and hand them over to me each term. That way, we can put the club membership into the students' report cards. Meanwhile, I'll talk to Mr. Filch about a room which you can use."

"I think we already have a room."

McGonagall's eyebrows went up. "Which room would that be?"

"The one we always met in last year. Do you know the Room of Requirements?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

"It's a room which always adjusts to what people need. It was perfect for our purpose, because it was always equipped with mats. Dobby told me about it once, and the club members already know where it is."

"I see. I will talk to Mr. Filch whether he knows where the room is, but if it isn't used for anything else then I don't see any problem why you should not be able to use it. I'll only need the precise location of the room. Why don't you come into my office once you have settled everything with Professor Fairbanks and the other students who want to join the club. I will have made sure about the room then."

Harry nodded and got up. "All right. Thank you, Professor."

"You're welcome, Mr. Potter. And now go join your classmates, you already missed a part of your lunch break."

Harry smiled and picked up his bag, then he left the classroom.

Ron had saved him a seat at the Gryffindor table and Harry quickly sat down and began to load food onto his plate. He was going to have Care of Magical Creatures next, that meant his lunch break was cut a bit short because he had to leave early to arrive at Hagrid's Hut in time for the start of the lesson.

"And, what did McGonagall say?" Ron asked between two bites of lunch.

Harry shrugged. "That she thinks it's a good idea. I shall talk to Fairbanks while she takes a look at the Room of Requirements, but she said it shouldn't be any problem."

"Good. Ginny's been pestering me about the club, it seems she's already been recruiting people again."

"I'll try to catch Fairbanks after the next lesson. If not, I'll go to his office. Once that's done, I'm going back to McGonagall and then everything will be settled. I'll write to Sirius and ask him whether he or Remus have any ideas what it would be wise to practice. I need to ask him about that stupid transfiguration into inanimate objects, anyway."

Ron's eyebrows went up. "You think he knows a trick how to do it?"

"I hope so. Somebody who taught himself how to become an animagus at the age of sixteen shouldn't have all that many problems with how to transfigure people into chairs. At least that's what I hope, because otherwise my grade won't look all that good."

"Same here. Anyway, I got to run, I still need to make up a little Divination homework before I go to class. See you later."

"Yeah, until later", Harry said, not for the first time wishing that he had continued with Divination instead of Care of Magical Creatures as well. True, Hagrid had been a little miffed when he had realised that neither Ron nor Hermione would continue his lesson, but it seemed that Harry's choice to continue had more than made up for it. And it wasn't as if Harry didn't enjoy lessons with Hagrid. On the contrary, but the prospect of playing nursemaid for a beast in the forest was less than exciting to Harry. With a sigh, he finished the last of the food on his plate, then got up, grabbed his bag and went to leave the castle. It would be interesting to see what Hagrid had in store for him today, it was the day that would decide which creature exactly Harry was supposed to take into his care. He only hoped it wasn't a werewolf, or one of the giant spiders Hagrid was so fond of.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Paperwork was an invention of the devil, Janus was sure of. For more than twenty years he had been working in various forms of law enforcement, and still he did not quite understand the need to write down everything he ever did.

_September 27th. Following an anonymous lead I authorised the investigation of a supposed Dead Eater hideout in Southern London. Upon closer inspection, the alleged hideout turned out to be illegal potions laboratory. 5 suspects apprehended and turned over to the Department for Control of Illegal Substances, charge of Higgins McLeod, deputy chief of the department. Signed, Janus Lupin._

Janus refrained from adding that he was all for letting somebody else but the DMLE handle the anonymous leads that reached them in the hundreds by now. Nothing but a war to make people suspicious even of their neighbours whom they had known for years on end. Not that Janus minded the investigations as such. Occasionally, like this morning, the tips even helped bringing down some true criminals, though rarely if ever Death Eaters. But just why he had to spend at least one hour of his precious time every day writing down the things he had done eluded him.

With a sigh, he signed the last parchments, put them in his out-tray for Maggie to deliver, dropped his quill and leaned back in his chair. Just as he was about to get up and call in the Aurors he had set on nightshift of tailing Lucius Malfoy, his fireplace sprang to life and the Minister's head appeared. Janus barely suppressed a groan. There was little these days which he despised less than talking to Fudge.

"Lupin!"

"Yes?"  
"I want you and Moody in my office, as soon as possible. Which means right now!"

And without another word, the fireplace died down and Fudge's face had vanished. Janus shook his head and left his office. As little as he liked it, things would only get worse if he kept Fudge waiting for any longer. On his way out, he grabbed the parchments he had just finished and dropped them on Maggie's desk in the outer office.

"Didn't I tell you time and again not to patch any fire-calls from Fudge through to my office?"

Maggie looked up from her work and with an air of admonishment took the parchments Janus had dropped and positioned them carefully to her left.

"I rather enjoy working here, Auror Lupin. Which is why I won't be the one to tell the Minister that you don't want to talk to him."

Janus shook his head and pointed towards the door to Moody's office.

"Alastor is in there?"

"Yes, he arrived a few minutes ago."

"We're in a meeting with Fudge, should anybody come asking."

Maggie nodded without looking up from her work and Janus stepped over to Moody's door. He had only been bantering with Maggie, and she knew it. Of course he had told her often enough not to patch calls from Fudge through, but he had never expected her to follow that order. Maggie bore most of his and Moody's antics with a stoic calm, but there were certain orders even she wouldn't follow. Not that Janus expected her to.

Janus knocked on Moody's door and without waiting for an answer stepped into the room.

"Fudge wants to see us. Right now."

Moody's scarred face drew into a grimace, but he put down the papers he had been reading in and came limping over towards Janus.

"Then we'd better not keep him waiting. Did he say what this was all about?"

Janus shook his head as they walked through the DMLE and down the corridor towards the elevators. "No, he was too busy finding synonyms for "as soon as possible". But I don't think it's something good, not if he wants to see both of us."

Moody grumbled something illegible and for the remaining way the two Aurors remained silent. Finally, they reached Fudge's office, and after a little wait the Minister's secretary waved them through into the inner sanctum.

Fudge was seated behind his desk, which was as usual clear of any kind of paperwork. Janus had more than once suspected that even when there were no visitors, Fudge never bothered with any kind of paperwork. Or work. Over the past years, Janus had formed quite a firm opinion of the Minister of Magic, and it was no a good one. Fudge was much too passive, far too lazy and without the slightest trace of own initiative. Besides which, he was also highly insecure and relied too much on the advice of other people. And when he made a decision of his own, he stuck firmly to it even if it proved to be a wrong decision.

Fudge silently waved them into the room and gestured towards the two visitor chairs in front of his desk. Janus would have preferred to remain standing, but he grudgingly sat down.

"You wanted to see us?", Moody asked gruffly.

"Indeed. I have been waiting for your most recent status report for the entire morning. I had thought I was very clear that I wanted a status report from the DMLE each morning."

The Minister's eyes bore into Moody, then turned towards Janus. Janus knew that he was pretty far down on Fudge's list of favourite people, but he certainly didn't intend to change that. He could live with antagonism, even if it came from the Minister of Magic himself.

"Lupin, would you care to tell me about the status report?"

Janus shrugged. "Take yesterday's status report and change the date. There's nothing new I'd like to add, and to be frank, I'm sick and tired of paperwork."  
Fudge's face turned beet-red and he clenched his fists on top of the desk.

"I won't take any more insolence by you, Lupin."

"Then why did you call me to your office?"

Fudge angrily slammed his hands down on the desk. "Enough, I have had enough of that! This is no game here! From now on I want daily status reports, end of discussion. And I want to see some results, it can't be that we have no idea where to search for You-Know-Who or what he will do next."

"Investigating all the anonymous lead draws too many of our capacities", Moody replied. "If you'd finally agree to let the Junior-Groups handle the hundreds of tips we get, we'd have more men for the other investigations."

Fudge turned his eyes on Janus, and something Janus didn't like at all glinted in them. "Believe me, Moody, you will have more capacities soon, I'll make sure of that." He kept on staring at Janus for a bit longer than it was comfortable, then turned towards Moody. "That has been all, Moody. I expect a final report on the murder cases during the summer, and I want you to close the reports on the London attacks. And by tomorrow morning I expect a strategy of how to deal with the Azkaban problem, is that understood?"

Moody nodded and got up, but as Janus made move to rise as well, Fudge gestured for him to remain seated. "I'm not finished with you, Lupin."

Both Moody and Janus were surprised, but after a short moment of hesitation Moody turned and left the office. Janus looked at the Minister and raised an eyebrow. "Was there anything else, Minister?"

"Oh, there are plenty of other things, Lupin. And I think we need to clear a few issues, once and for all."

Janus didn't like the tone of Fudge's voice, not at all.

"Issues like what?"

"Being Minister of Magic is a huge responsibility, Lupin. You might think that your job is stressful, but I am the one who is under constant pressure here. People expect me to present results, and as of late I am sadly lacking any results at all. You and Moody are the heads of my law enforcement department, and neither of you is performing his work on a satisfactory level."

Janus knew better than to let the Minister goad him into a reaction. Fudge knew little to nothing about how to work a law enforcement agency effectively.

"We've got too few men, as you and I both know."

Something flashed in Fudge's eyes then. "That is something else I wanted to talk about. We are short on men all over our law enforcement units, yet is has come to my attention that you, _personally_, dispatched no less than four Aurors on assignments for which there are no official records?" Fudge bent down and pulled out a sheet of parchment. "Where was it? Ah, here. Aurors Finkstein, Punklewill, Starsky and Benderson. Care to tell me about that?"

Janus shook his head. "No, not particularly."  
Fudge's face turned a darker shade of red. "Did you or did you not dispatch those four Aurors on tailing Lucius Malfoy?"

Janus shrugged. "Not exclusively Malfoy, but yes. It is fully in my authority to dispatch Aurors for such a task, without official notice or files if I think appropriate."

"Appropriate? _Appropriate_? I don't particularly care about how you interpret the rulebook, I am your chief in command and I want to be informed about whatever my law enforcement officers are doing. I want those four Aurors to be returned to normal duty immediately, and I will hear nothing more of any illegal tails on anybody."

"Those tails were not illegal, and with all due respect, I will not let you tell me how to do my job."

"You will have to", Fudge said with an angry slamming of his palms against the desk. "Everything that happens in one of the Ministry's departments falls back to me, and I will not have that. I tell you this one more time. Stay away from Lucius Malfoy."

"Staying away from Lucius Malfoy is exactly the reason that he is not in prison already."

"My problem, Lupin, is that at the moment I don't _have_ a prison. The Death Eaters have taken it, and as far as I can see, my Department of Law Enforcement is doing nothing at all to change that. My patience is running thin."

Janus sighed. "Well, Minister, I am awfully sorry that you lost your favourite play-toy, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be an awful lot we can do to get it back. The Ministry itself took great pains to assure that the island is safely warded and easy to hold with a small number of people. We haven't found a way yet to break all the wards from afar, and neither have we found a way to infiltrate the prison and take down the wards from inside. So what do you want me to do, take a boat to Azkaban and negotiate with the Death Eaters about giving up the prison?"

"I've had enough of your attitude, Lupin. I don't want to hear you whining about the impossibilities of your job, I want to see results. I want to see that you're doing something."

Janus shook his head with a sigh, but Fudge ignored the insolent gesture. With another sigh, Janus uncrossed his legs and made move to stand.

"If that's all, I'd better get back to work."

He had half-risen from his chair when Fudge waved him to sit down again.

"That's not all, Lupin, I will tell you when you can leave. There is another matter of importance which I need to discuss with you."

Something in Fudge's voice had shifted, a strange new note in it that made cold fingers creep up Janus' spine. Fudge bent down and retrieved two files from another drawer of his desk, dropping them onto the desktop with an audible thud. Janus silently raised an eyebrow and waited for Fudge to continue. He did, after another deliberate pause.

"You are, of course, aware of the threat You-Know-Who made against the Ministry of Magic that he would set a group of half-humans loose if the government didn't stand down?"

"You mean that he threatened to set werewolves to attack somewhere if you didn't resign your post, yes. I am aware of that threat."

With deliberate slowness Fudge pulled the slightly thinner of the two files towards himself and opened it. Janus was only seeing it upside down, but the little he saw already told him more than enough about where this was going.

"Have you spoken to your brother lately?"

"I was not aware that I am obliged to make my private conversations public knowledge, Minister."  
"Seeing that he is your brother, I am fairly sure that it has not slipped your attention that he seems to have vanished."

Anger was rising inside of Janus' chest, but he breathed deeply until he had it under his control. "How do you know that? Are you having him tailed? I thought we didn't have the capacities for such an action."

Fudge's mouth drew into a tight line. "I am not the one who is wasting capacities, Lupin. But didn't you think that once that threat reached us, we would do a check on all registered lycanthropes in Britain? Your brother amongst them. And he is also amongst those of the lycanthropes who were nowhere to be found."

Janus shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage to. "Maybe he's simply not in the country. Check your records, if I remember correctly my brother still has the French citizenship, not the British."

Fudge raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. But for as long as he lives in Britain, he lives under my jurisdiction. And to my knowledge your brother is not in France. My information is that your brother is amongst those who heeded You-Know-Who's call. There is a word for that, _Auror_ Lupin. The word is treason."

Something in Janus' stomach clenched together painfully, but he fought not to let it show on his face. "Does that mean you're going to arrest Remus?"

Fudge shrugged, a sly smile spreading on his face. "We'd definitely be interested in talking to him, once he shows up again. So yes, we're keeping an eye out for your brother, like we keep an eye out for all the other werewolves who are unaccounted for at the moment. So, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Janus shook his head. "My brother is thirty-eight years old, he doesn't need to tell me where he's going or when he'll be back."

Fudge slowly drummed his fingers onto the desktop. "You know, I have been wondering one thing for a couple of weeks. You were present at Sirius Black's hearing in August, even though you had not been the Auror in charge of his investigation. I didn't think much about it at that time, but seeing that Sirius Black, a suspected Death Eater, is a close acquaintance of your brother, who now has vanished without a trace, it got me thinking. So, what were you doing there?"

"Moody asked me to be present during the hearing, and I did him that favour. And as for the connection you're trying to weave between my brother and the Death Eaters, if I remember correctly Sirius Black was cleared of all charges and compensated for his imprisonment. You're trying to find something against me and because you can't, you're reaching, aren't you?"

Fudge looked Janus square in the eye for a long moment, but finally he looked down onto his desktop again and pulled out the other file. "I have to tell you, Lupin, that it does make me uncomfortable to know that one of my most important men in law enforcement is closely connected to a group that poses a threat to our community."

"You mean you don't like somebody working for you who is related to a werewolf." He shrugged. "So what now, you're going to demote me, or fire me even?"

"No, but I want you to be aware of my concerns. It was not my idea to hire you, and over the past years there was more than one moment when I wanted nothing more than fire you on the spot. You're insolent, you have a problem with authority, a _serious_ problem with authority, you're arrogant and – most importantly – you are spinning our own little web down there in the DMLE with all your informants and covert actions, and nobody around you knows what you're doing. And your brother is a werewolf who vanished at just that moment when You-Know-Who started rounding up the werewolves. That got me thinking, Lupin. And, as you didn't see fit to answer that my initial question, let me tell you that it has come to my knowledge that your brother indeed contacted you three days ago. More precisely, he called you at home in the early evening hours from an unknown location. That got me thinking, too. In fact, it got me thinking so much that I contacted the French authorities and had them send over your old file."

"You had no right to do that", Janus said in a tight voice.

Fudge shook his head. "No, you're right. I had no right to do that. But you know what? I had it sent over all the same. I even had it translated. And I have to admit that it makes good reading. And the bottom line is that I find myself unable to lay any trust in you at the moment. Times are delicate now, and I cannot possibly allow the enemy to have spies high up in our departments."

At that, Janus nearly laughed out loud. "You think I am an enemy spy? Merlin, that's the most stupid crap I have heard in a long time."

Fudge shrugged. "I cannot risk it. I don't know if you have ever thrown a glance in here," he gestured at the file, "but there isn't much in there that would feed any trust at all. Let me give you an example. What do we have here? Charges of unnecessary violence, _fabricated_ evidence, _missing_ evidence, bribery charges, suspicion of abuse of illegal substances, do you want me to continue?"

"A lot of charges, but I bet that you didn't find any convictions in there. Because I don't remember ever being convicted of anything. And all those charges are certainly neither proof nor even reason for suspecting me to be a Death Eater, or an enemy spy. Besides of which all that has been twenty years ago. Twenty years. I know that I am not the most popular person in the DMLE, but ever since I've been working here there has not been a single charge pressed against me. Because there has not been any reason to press charges against me, not for anything. That's ridiculous. Are we finished now? I've got work to do."

"No you don't. I told you I would neither fire nor demote you, but I most definitely am going to suspend you. Without pay. As of now, I withdraw you from all your active investigations. I will tell Moody to assign somebody else to your investigations for the time being. You will finish all your paperwork and hand it over to Moody."

"And then?"

Fudge sneered. "We will see, Lupin. A lot of it would depend on whether or not your brother shows up again during the next couple of days, on whether or not he'll cooperate with us concerning his present whereabouts, and whether or not we can clear the suspicion that at the moment is hanging about your person. I will not employ you again until I can know for sure that you are working for the Ministry of Magic alone, and not for anybody else."

Janus drew a deep breath, but he swallowed all the things that came to his mind at that moment. None of what he could say right now would make anything better, and he had already said too much. Anything else would only make him look defensive where there was absolutely nothing for him to be defensive about. He needed time to think about all this.

Wordlessly, Janus got up from his chair and made move to leave the Minister's office, but halfway to the door he changed his mind. He turned around again, walked up to the Minister's desk and saw with some satisfaction that a flicker of fear crossed Fudge's face. Janus drew back his right hand, as if to strike, but the moment Fudge closed his eyes and leaned back to evade the blow, Janus reached out and snatched the files from the desk.

"I'll take those, Minister. Seeing that you still entrust me with paperwork, I will make sure that my brother's file is brought back where it belongs. And I will personally send my own file back to the Ministère de la Magie. Good day to you, Minister."

He walked out of the office, neither fast nor slow, and had to resist hard not to give in to his urge to slam the door on his way out.


	12. The Lion's Den

Short A/N: Thanks to Thorfinna for pointing out that of course Angelina actually was the same age that the Weasley twins and that therefore she no longer is at Hogwarts during Harry's sixth year. The remaining chaser is actually Katie Bell. My mistake, I really thought it was the other way around. I'll try to get it fixed as soon as I have the time.

**Chapter 12 - The Lion's Den**

Harry had initially planned to stay behind after the next Defence against the Dark Arts lesson to talk to Fairbanks about the DA. But it seemed that staying behind after lesson had become a new favourite pastime activity in his class, and he didn't particularly want to stand in line behind Parvati and Lavender to wait for them to stop bombarding Fairbanks with nonsense questions just to get his attention. It was far less obvious than the swooning and adoring that had been going on when Lockhart had still been their teacher, but still it was just plain annoying.

Instead Harry decided to cut his library time short for the day, packed his bag and set off towards Professor Fairbanks' office in the afternoon. As most other offices, it was located directly next to the respective teacher's classroom, which meant for Harry that he had to cross nearly the entire castle to get there. He could only hope that there weren't any swooning girls around.

There weren't, fortunately. Upon Harry's knock, Fairbanks immediately bade him to enter. Harry hadn't been in this office for quite some time, but he had to realise that Fairbanks didn't keep a much different office than Remus had done. A lot of books stood around, though for the most part not sorted into shelves but stacked on the floor and other horizontal surfaces in perilously balanced stacks, there were some tanks and cages for various magical creatures, and right on the desk next to a stack of essays Fairbanks was obviously correcting was a pot of tea. Professor Fairbanks looked up as Harry entered and put down his quill.

"Mr. Potter, do come in. Take a seat, please. How can I help you?"

Experience had taught Harry that most people who behaved this enthusiastically polite towards him were doing it because he was Harry Potter, but after a couple of weeks into the new term Harry was fairly sure that Professor Fairbanks treated all his students during office hours that way.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about, Professor."

Fairbanks nodded and with a wave of his wand summoned an empty cup from a shelf.

"Tea? There you go. Now, what is the reason for your visit?"

"Professor McGonagall suggested that I come to see you. It's about a club some others and I want to found. A Defence Club. She suggested that you could function as the club's mentor and give us advise in case we need it or have any questions."

Fairbanks put the essays he had been correcting into a drawer, leaned back in his chair and looked Harry straight in the eye.

"It sounds like a good idea, Mr. Potter. Tell me a bit more about it. What have you imagined that club to look like?"

"Well, actually that club already exists. As you said during our first lesson this term, we didn't really have any practical Defence lessons last year. Some of my housemates and I decided to practice that in our spare time. We found a room that was good for practicing, and I have some really good books on practical Defence. We used those to look up the spells, and, well, those who were better at it helped those who had some more problems with the spells. Students from other houses joined in, too. I mean, right now we have practical Defence lessons again, even more than usual, but still we thought that the Club might be a good opportunity to keep on practicing. You know, amongst students, without the feeling of being in class. The duelling lessons are good and well, but…"

Harry very nearly said that the lessons were good except for the fact that there was always a teacher present, but stopped himself just in time. Fairbanks smiled.

"I have come to realise that some of the students have more difficulties with the style of those lessons than others. And I can understand the sentiment that it's easier to learn amongst your peers than to understand a concept or a spell in a class situation which makes you uncomfortable. Insofar I'm pleased by the idea. And unknowingly, you also just explained a great mystery to me."

"What mystery, Professor?"

Fairbanks chuckled. "I had been wondering why my classes seem to be divided into those who have a very good grasp on and control over the basic Defence Spells and those who don't have that. Obviously, your work paid off, Mr. Potter."

Harry had already had a similar feeling during the Defence lessons, and he felt a surge of pride at the other members of the DA at Fairbanks' words.

Fairbanks took a sip of his tea, then scratched his head. "As I said, I think this Defence Club is a very good idea, and if you want to, I'd be pleased to function as the Club's mentor. However, due to my amount of lessons, I might not be able to attend every meeting."

"That wouldn't be that much of a problem, Professor. It would already be a big help if you were there to answer questions when we have them. It's one thing to practice Stunning Spells, another entirely to explain spells that are more difficult."

Fairbanks thought for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to have one of those Defence books you were using with you, would you?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, I do. I brought it along to show you."

He pulled out the first volume and handed it over to Fairbanks, who took it with an appreciative raising of his eyebrows.

"Mr. Potter, let me compliment you on your choice of literature. That is one of the best series on practical Defence available. The Ministry works with the last two volumes during Auror training."

Harry was stunned speechless for a moment. "I didn't buy them, they were a gift."

Fairbanks handed the book back with a smile. "Well, whoever gave them to you seemingly knows quite a bit about Defensive Magic. You own all the volumes of the series?"

Harry nodded. "I think so, yes."

"Then it might be a bit confusing to work through them and find the most useful spells. You certainly won't be able to work through the books from cover to cover, especially since this wouldn't be very useful, anyway. I have a suggestion for you. I have a set of those books here." His eyes strayed around the various stacks of books that were strewn around the office with a slight air of desperation. "_Somewhere_ in all that chaos here. I will work out a list of the spells which I think might be useful for the club. You will surely be practicing the spells we cover during lessons, and in addition to that I'll give you a number of other useful little spells to work out during your club sessions. Seeing that you are the one who sought me out, I assume that you are the initiator or leader of the club?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "Professor McGonagall said the club needed one, so I think so, yes. Basically, so far we all decided on what to do together."

"Fine with me. Then I'd suggest that I'll compile the new spells for you and introduce those during selected club meetings. Whenever else there are problems, any member of the club is always welcome to come to me during office hours or after class."

"Sounds good. Thank you, Professor."

Fairbanks smiled. "Nothing to thank me for, Mr. Potter. Now, as far as I'm aware there are certain official procedures to found a club at Hogwarts?"

"Yes, but Professor McGonagall is taking care of that."

"Good, good. If I might make a suggestion concerning the club?"

"Of course."

"For such a club to work effectively, it would be wise if the members already had a certain level of magic that they're able to perform. Some are always a bit farther ahead than others, which is no problem, but I'd advise you to open the club for students of fifth year and above. Maybe fourth year, if there are some students who are interested. But everybody below that would only slow the progress of the club down too much. And from the experience over the past few weeks, I'd say that the first three years are busy enough with their Defence lessons for now, there simply is no use in confronting them with advanced spells. That'd only overtax their abilities."

Harry nodded. "Professor McGonagall suggested something similar, and it sounds reasonable. I'll talk to the other members and Professor McGonagall again, and as soon as we have a fixed time and date for the club meetings, I'll get back to you."

"You do that, Mr. Potter."

Harry quickly downed his tea and got up from his chair. "Well, that's been about it. Thank you very much, Professor."

"As I said, nothing to thank me for."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Mr. Potter."

Fairbanks pulled his stack of essays towards himself again and Harry turned and left the office. So far, so good. He quickly checked his watch. He could return to the library for another half hour before dinner, but he had nearly finished all his homework for today and decided to go to McGonagall's office instead. He ran into his Transfiguration teacher in the corridor that led to her office.

"Potter, did you come to see me?"

"Yes Professor, it's about the Defence Club."

McGonagall nodded and unlocked the door to her office. "Do come in, Mr. Potter. Take a seat. I assume that you have spoken to Professor Fairbanks?"

"Yes, just now."

McGonagall nodded and pulled a piece of parchment out of her briefcase. "I have taken the matter to Professor Dumbledore, who was all in favour of your idea. I have also spoken to Mr. Filch about the, what did you call it? Room of Requirements. According to him, there is no such room."

Harry had to stifle a grin. "It's there, believe me. On the seventh floor."

A slight frown showed on McGonagall's face. "That is what Professor Dumbledore said as well. Along with a story about chamber pots which I do not quite dare to repeat here."

This time, Harry didn't try to hide his smile. "So we can use it?"

McGonagall shrugged. "As long as you make sure that the club members know how to reach the room, I have nothing against it. Professor Dumbledore assured me that the room is harmless. What's left to do now is that you have to settle on a date for the meetings, and you have to inform the other students about it. How about you simply draw out an announcement for the notice board in the common room. If you give me three copies, I'll make sure that the prefects in the other houses place them in their common rooms."

Harry nodded. "All right, I'll do that and give them to you."

"Good, then that's settled. Do you have any more questions?"

Harry shook his head and got up from the chair. "No, not at the moment. Thank you, Professor."

McGonagall nodded and Harry left the room to seek out Hermione, Ron and Ginny. They needed to set a weekly meeting date now.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

For the second time in only three days Janus Lupin paced to and fro in front of his living room fireplace for a seemingly endless time until he finally resolved to floo to No. 12 Grimmauld Place. He had thought about it at length, about the conversation he had had with Fudge that morning. It had been ridiculously easy to put his anger about his suspension aside once he had returned home from work. And just to spite Fudge, he had thrown all his undone paperwork into the fireplace before he had flooed home. Let somebody else do the paperwork if Janus wasn't even allowed to do his normal job anymore.

The suspension aside, there were a couple of things about this conversation with Fudge that had struck a chord with Janus. For one, the Minister had known that Remus was gone. And Fudge had been convinced that Remus was not merely unaccounted for, or maybe visiting their father in France, but that he had gone and tried to seek out the werewolves. And aside from Janus, the only people who were supposed to know about this were members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Remus' mission might have come to light in a different way, it was remotely possible, but Fudge had _known_ that Remus had contacted Janus three days ago. And there was only one way how he could have gotten to know that, and that was through somebody in the Order. There was no way that the Ministry, or anybody else for that matter, could be watching Janus' fireplace and intercept calls. Janus took great care every day to assure that his fireplace was not being watched. Janus supposed that Sirius had told the other members about Remus' call to him, and that meant that somebody in the Order was leaking information.

The strange thing was, whoever had done it was leaking information not to Voldemort, but to Fudge, and that was the thing about it that didn't make sense. A spy for Voldemort Janus could understand, but why should somebody in the Order be spying for Fudge?

It didn't make sense, no matter how much Janus wore down the rug in front of his fireplace with his pacing. There was only one thing to do, and that was going to Grimmauld Place and having another face to face with his brother's best friend.

He had been hesitant to involve Sirius Black into this at first. Janus didn't like to share information with people he didn't trust, and in case of Sirius Black Janus neither trusted the man nor did he particularly like him. True enough, he was Remus' friend, and from what he knew Janus assumed that Remus trusted Sirius implicitly, but that was not a calming factor for Janus at all. One of Remus' friends had already turned out to be a traitor, after all. And in the end it didn't matter that this traitor hadn't been Black. Quite on the contrary, rather. In the back of Janus' naturally suspicious mind, the fact popped up unbidden that this would be the perfect cover. The innocent prisoner who had lost a great deal of his life to wrong accusations. People would start doubting their own grandmother's loyalty before they doubted Sirius Black's again. At least Remus would, Janus was sure of that. His little brother was perpetually prone to guilt complexes, for him Sirius was above suspicion.

Question was, was he above suspicion for Janus as well? Actually not, but there was one little fact that finally convinced Janus to seek out Sirius. Whoever had ratted on about Remus' absence, they had gone to Fudge. Janus might be able to imagine Sirius being a spy for the Death Eaters, but he could not imagine him spying for the Ministry of Magic. Not after they had been the ones who had brought him to Azkaban for twelve years.

So after a bit more of deliberating, Janus threw a pinch of floo powder into the flames of his fireplace and flooed over to No. 12 Grimmauld Place. As during his previous visit, he stumbled out of the fireplace in the kitchen there unannounced, only this time he didn't find himself alone with Sirius. In fact, Sirius wasn't even there. Who was there was a red-headed woman Janus distinctly remembered having seen before, and Arthur Weasley, into whose wand Janus found himself looking the moment he stepped out of the fireplace.

"Auror Lupin?"

"Good afternoon, Weasley."

Arthur Weasley, still looking a little flabbergasted, lowered his wand. Now Janus recognised the woman with him as his wife. They had been introduced during his first visit here over summer.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sorry for my barging in like that. Maybe you should consider changing the password to your fireplace, it's been the same since Dumbledore told me how to get here more than two months ago."

The red-headed man nodded. "We should do that. Though we're not exactly handing out the password. What brings you here?"

"I need to talk to Sirius Black. Urgently. Is he here?"

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Yes, he's upstairs. I'll get him."

"Thank you."

Mrs. Weasley hurried out of the kitchen and Arthur Weasley gestured over towards the large kitchen table. "Why don't you sit down for a moment?"

Janus shook his head. "No, thank you. I won't be staying long."

Weasley looked at him for another moment, then he nodded and turned towards the door. "I'd better leave you and Sirius to whatever it is you need to talk about. We'll see each other at work."

Janus was close to saying that he didn't suppose they would, but instead he only nodded and Weasley, too, left the kitchen. A few minutes later, there were steps on the stairs outside, the door opened and Sirius stepped into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley must have told him who was waiting for him in the kitchen, because Sirius looked neither surprised nor pleased when he saw Janus standing there.

"What is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest. "What about?"

Janus shook his head. "Not here. Not this time."

And without waiting for an answer, Janus stepped over towards the fireplace and flooed home. He was sure that Sirius would follow. If anything, out of curiosity. Janus was sure that his brother's friend had heard him say the password to his private fireplace so that he wouldn't get stuck somewhere in the floo network. Contrary to the people in the Order, Janus would change his password as soon as Sirius had left, and the number of people who could use Janus' fireplace without a password amounted to exactly three, three people he trusted implicitly. If there was one thing Moody had taught him, it was vigilance.

It took a few moments after Janus arrived home until Sirius came after him. It nearly seemed as if he was deliberately delaying his arrival, just to get on Janus' nerves. But finally the flames in the fireplace turned green again and Sirius stepped out into Janus' living room. He brushed the soot off his robes and looked around the spartanly furnished room, taking in all the lack of personal things people normally had stored away in shelves or hung in frames from their wall.

"Nice lodgings. Let me guess, that's exactly the way it looked in the catalogue, you only left away the frames on the walls that were supposed to hold the family photographs?"

"I didn't bring you here for your opinion as an interior decorator, Sirius."

Janus turned around and led them into the kitchen where he wordlessly sank down in one of the kitchen chairs and gestured for Sirius to take another.

"Yes, I'd very much like a cup of tea, thank you."

Janus drew his brows together in an angry line. "I didn't bring you here because I treasure your small talk, either."

"Then why don't you finally tell me why you brought me here? Is it about Remus? Has he contacted you again?"

Janus shook his head. "No he hasn't. Tell me, Sirius, who knows about Remus?"

"Could you be a little more specific?"

Janus rolled his eyes and sighed. "Who knows that Remus is, well, wherever he is now? And especially who knows that he contacted me?"

Sirius frowned. "I'd say that by now everybody in the Order knows what Remus is trying to do at the moment. Not so many people know about that call to you, but still quite a few."

Janus leaned back in his chair, sighed and tiredly rubbed his eyes.

"Would you finally tell me what this is all about? Why do you come banging into Grimmauld Place and drag me here just for those stupid questions. I certainly didn't tell _everybody_ about Remus' call, but word just gets around. If you had wanted to keep it secret, you should have said so."

Janus shook his head and got up from his chair. He had brewed a pot of coffee earlier and now he poured two mugs, placing one of them in front of Sirius.

"I don't have any tea", he said by the way of explanation and took a deep sip of the hot brew. Sirius reached for his own cup but didn't drink. Instead he silently looked at Janus until the other man sat his cup down with another sigh.

"I'm in trouble."

A small smile showed on Sirius' lips. "That's nothing new, as far as I know. It's only new that you come to me when it happens."  
Janus' face hardened immediately. "Believe me, I could think of a lot of things far more entertaining than having you here in my home, talking to you. Like having my fingernails ripped out one after another and have salt spread into the wounds. But I don't have a choice. This morning, Fudge called me to his office. Well, me an Alastor actually, but the trouble part only comes in after Alastor left. Fudge started asking about Remus."

A frown showed on Sirius' face. "He did what?"

"He asked me whether I knew where Remus was, whether he had been in contact with me or whether I knew what he was doing. I didn't answer, and then he started talking about what a strange coincidence it was that my brother the werewolf vanishes at the precise moment that Voldemort rounds up the werewolves. He said they were looking out for Remus and all the other werewolves that had vanished, and if Remus doesn't show up soon then I am pretty sure that he'll sign a warrant for him. If Remus tries to get into contact with you, you have to tell him that the Ministry's looking for him. Which means big trouble, because they will assume that he heeded Voldemort's call. Which again means that they will treat him as a suspect, and for a werewolf that's probably the worst position imaginable. It would be extremely counterproductive if he fell into the Ministry's hands, let's not mention dangerous."

"At least they can't give him Veritaserum."

Janus smiled as if Sirius had just made a joke. "Just because werewolves react violently to Veritaserum doesn't mean that an Auror with an attitude doesn't give it to a suspect lycanthrope. Besides, there are other truth potions, not so effective but still effective enough, which contain no trace of silver. So should the Ministry lay their hands on Remus, they'll squeeze out of him what he's been doing. And I doubt that they'll care really much about the spying angle. I don't know how much Moody would be able to do for him should Remus get caught."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully and sipped his coffee, but Janus realised that his brother's friend didn't take his words lightly. Sirius' face had become pale, and there was a vertical crease between his eyebrows indicating that he was thinking hard.

"He'll just have to hide out until that suspicion is cleared."

Janus shook his head. "No. It won't go away all on its own. The Ministry policy concerning werewolves doesn't cut them much slack, and if Remus stays in the suspicion of being connected to the Death Eaters, he'll be in deep trouble."

"Fuck."

"Not very elaborate, but I agree. So should Remus contact you, you have to tell him to get away from there immediately. Most importantly, he _needs_ to be back before the next full moon. Tell him to come here immediately. No stopping by at Grimmauld Place or somewhere else, he needs to come _here_ immediately."  
"Why here? Grimmauld Place is just as safe as your apartment is, if not safer. And Remus won't buy the story about you risking your neck to get him out of trouble. That would be a first."

Janus was pretty sure that his expression darkened at those words, but Sirius didn't seem to notice. "Just for your information, it would not be the first time that I keep Remus out of trouble from the Ministry, not that it's any of your concern. But the main thing why I don't want him to go to Grimmauld Place is that I don't trust the people there."

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, and that means something, seeing that you're one of the most trusting people on this planet."

"I don't have overly much trust in you, either, Sirius. Believe me. But whoever brought Remus' absence to the Minister's attention also mentioned that Remus had gotten into contact with me. And that, only I and you people at Grimmauld Place knew about. I haven't told the Minister, so one of your people must have."  
"But why? I mean, that's ridiculous. Who should have an interest in ratting Remus out to the Ministry?"

Janus had thought about that, long and hard. He didn't particularly like the conclusions he had come to. "The problem isn't that somebody alerted the Ministry. Somebody took care that Fudge, _Fudge_ personally, got to know about Remus being an absent werewolf who potentially joined Voldemort."

Sirius shook his head. "But why? I mean, all right, the Ministry doesn't much care for werewolves. The Minister himself doesn't, either. Point taken. But for them, Remus should simply be one of many."

Janus nodded. "Yes. The Ministry wouldn't have any interest in taking Remus specifically out of the picture. But the Death Eaters would have a great interest in taking a resistance fighter out of the picture."

Sirius actually laughed at that. "You think we have a Death Eater in the Order?"

Janus only shrugged. "Everything is possible. But at the very least I'd say you have somebody in the Order who has his or her own hidden agenda. And that should be worrisome enough."

"All right, all right. I see the point, though I doubt that it's right. I mean, Voldemort doesn't like to see the Order at work, true enough, and he'd have all of us dead in a heartbeat if he could, but the Order work would be much more complicated if it were somebody else taken out. Dumbledore especially. Why is Remus so important to them that they take care that Fudge personally involves himself?"

Janus shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. "Dumbledore is hard to get to. And because that way, they didn't only get Remus."

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean?"

"As of this morning, I have been suspended from active duty. Fudge was extremely concerned to have one of his heads of law enforcement being closely related to a werewolf who went missing. He drew my old file from France, found some proof for my dubious and less than trustworthy character, in addition to that he remembered that I was present during your last hearing at the Ministry and decided that somebody with contact to so many suspicious people could no longer be head of law enforcement."

"They fired you?", Sirius asked incredulously.

"They _suspended_ me. There's a difference", Janus answered coldly.

"And now you think that whoever informed the Minister about Remus did it solely to stop you? Merlin, you should receive an award for your modesty."

Janus angrily shook his head. "I didn't say that, Sirius. But it was as good a possibility as any. With a little anonymous tip somebody could make sure that both Remus and I have enough troubles of our own so as not to get into the Death Eaters' way. And that rather limits the choice of suspects."

"And why did you come to me? I mean, what do you expect me to do?" Suddenly, Sirius grinned. "Or, what if I am the one who told the Minister?"

"I actually thought about that, but I dismissed the thought. You're not the sneaky type, you've always been rather – _blunt_, if I remember correctly. Besides, while you certainly hold no love for me, you wouldn't just rat out Remus. Especially not to the Ministry, they're not exactly your friends. But somebody did, and it must have been somebody in the Order. So you have to be careful from now on. And you have to try and find out who informed Fudge about Remus, and what else that person has been telling to people outside of your Order. It seems to me that you've got yourself a spy of some kind."

Sirius leaned back and ran his hands over his face as if washing without water. "Merlin, not that again."

Janus shrugged. "That's war, better get used to it. And it's not as if it's the end of the world for any of the involved. It just complicates matters a little."

"Especially for Remus."  
"Which is why I want him to be here before he ends up at the Ministry. There are ways to get him out of the trouble he's in now, but not if he's caught by a bunch of Aurors only waiting for their first Death Eater catch of the day. We need to be in control of the situation, then Remus should be safe."

"Well, I'll pass it on should he get into contact with me. As for the bastard who started all this, I'll keep my eyes open."

Janus nodded. "Good. You know where to find me in case there is news."

"Yeah. But there is still question I have, now that you mentioned it earlier."

"Which?"

"Why were you at my hearing? At that time, I didn't pay all that much attention, but it sure seemed strange."  
Janus shrugged. "Moody asked me to be there. Which actually means that Remus wanted me to be there without wanting to personally ask me to be there." He shrugged again. "I don't really know why Remus should have wanted me there, though, but that's family matters to you. They tend to be complicated."

"You tell me." Sirius got up from his chair. "I guess that's been all."

Janus nodded, and with a small nod of goodbye, Sirius turned around and used the fireplace in the living room to floo back to Grimmauld Place.


	13. The Octagonal Chamber

**Chapter 13 – The Octagonal Chamber**

Finding a time for the first DA meeting that year had proven more difficult than Harry had initially imagined. Aside from lessons and Quidditch, everybody seemed to have some study groups, other clubs or duties to attend to, so at first it had seemed rather impossible to set a date that would suit all. Finally, after much discussion, they had settled on Wednesday evening at half past seven, which left them one and a half hours before everybody had to be back in their houses for the night, starting the week after the first Hogsmeade weekend which was up in two weeks. That gave Harry enough time to prepare, and it gave Fairbanks enough time to compile the list of spells he had wanted to give Harry. And until then, their lessons would certainly give them enough things to work through.

Amongst all that, his horrible amount of homework and the weekly Quidditch practices, Harry found himself occupied enough so that he had little time left to think about much else. It was shocking really, each morning the post owls arrived with the newspapers and the news of people getting hurt by Voldemort, rumours of people who had vanished and were supposed to have been brought to Azkaban by the Death Eaters, but over the course of the day the sheer amount of school business forced all those thoughts away from Harry's mind. He guessed that Dumbledore was glad that most of his students were too focussed to spend their days worrying about their friends and family, but Harry didn't quite know if he liked that development or not.

He had written to Sirius numerous times, whenever he found time for it in the evenings, and he always received answers to his letters. As glad as Harry was to be in constant contact with his godfather, there was very little Sirius was actually telling him in his letters. Mostly he tried to amuse and distract Harry with stories from headquarters and small tales of his own past at Hogwarts. He did always answer Harry's questions, but never in a fashion that would have completely satisfied the teenager. Of course Sirius surely didn't want to worry Harry, and he couldn't tell any secrets about the Order work in those letters, but Harry found himself wanting to know more. He was hoping that Sirius would come for a visit to Hogwarts, but that was one of Harry's questions which his godfather stubbornly left unanswered.

It was nearly time for the duelling lesson, and Harry hurried up towards the castle from his Care of Magical Creatures lesson, cursing himself for not having dropped the subject while he still had the chance. Lacking the initiative to choose one of Hagrid's beast from the list on their own, he and Ernie had been given the somewhat questionably task to take care of a group of Pogrebins. How Hagrid had gotten hold of them and settled them in the Forbidden Forest was a mystery to Harry, as the only thing he had known about Pogrebins was that they did not usually live in Great Britain but rather in Eastern Europe. But if there was one thing that Harry had learned about Hagrid was that he loved to lay his hands on dangerous creatures. And while Pogrebins certainly didn't look dangerous, appearing rather like small grey rocks with hair, Harry never wanted to approach one on his own.

The most remarkable talent a Pogrebin had was to follow the humans it met and fill them with a sense of immense sadness and hopelessness until finally it attacked and tried to eat them. Now Harry definitely didn't need even more hopelessness during his Care of Magical Creatures lessons, the mere thought about caring for those blasted little rocks for the rest of the term filled him with melancholy and hopelessness enough. The only good thing about the whole thing was that at least the Pogrebins didn't force them to dwell too deeply into the forest. Given the choice, though, Harry would prefer never to come near one again. Hagrid, of course, was completely beside himself with excitement about those "lovely little things", an enthusiasm Harry couldn't bring himself to share. Just half an hour ago, only Ernie's quick reaction had probably saved Harry's left hand from being bitten off. Seemingly, the ring leader of that band of Pogrebins had thought Harry was a hopeless and melancholy enough target and had snuck up on him from behind. It had taken both their combined effort to toss the little bugger back into the bushes he had come from, which had effectively served to send the whole group of Pogrebins scattering through the undergrowth. Inwardly, Harry hoped a little that he and Ernie had scared them away for good, that would probably save them all a lot of trouble.

Harry hurried a bit to get to his Defence lesson in time. The way from the forest up into the castle always took up nearly the entire short break between lessons, and today Harry was running late. He had tried to take a shortcut, and while he knew the castle and its shortcuts really well by now, today he must have taken a wrong turn and had suddenly found himself in the north wing, on the seventh floor. The passageway was closed behind him, and now he had to hurry through the castle to get to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, floors below where he was now.

Harry hurried down staircases and along corridors, but he already knew that he would be late. Hopefully, Fairbanks would not set him another night of detention for that. As Harry hurried down a deserted and rarely used corridor on the fifth floor he suddenly stopped, trying to recall where he was and what the quickest way to the third floor was. He had hardly ever been to this part of the castle before, and at the end of the corridor he could either go left or right. And Harry had no idea which direction would take him to his class.

Just great.

As Harry slowly approached the end of the corridor, he suddenly heard steps that were approaching from the direction into which Harry was walking. He wasn't doing anything forbidden in this part of the castle, technically. Sure, he should be in class right now, but he was _trying_ to get there, so nobody could really place any blame on him. But even so, as the steps grew nearer, Harry pressed himself into a niche behind a suit of armour. He didn't quite consider that if somebody was going to find him hiding there, he'd definitely seem guilty of something. But it was too late to reconsider his choice as the steps were already too close for him to change position again.

Harry peeked out of the niche to see who was in this deserted part of the castle at this time, his heart beating a little faster than normal in his chest. The steps were really close now, and a moment later the person causing the sound came into view. Harry suppressed drawing a sharp breath.

What was Malfoy doing here, and especially now? Malfoy was supposed to be in class right now, in the same duelling class Harry was supposed to be in, and Harry didn't for one moment believe that the Slytherin might have lost his way, as well. On the contrary, he seemed to have a rather purposeful air about him.

Malfoy didn't turn into the corridor Harry was in, fortunately, he quickly vanished again into the corridor that turned off to Harry's right. Before he vanished from view, Harry caught a glimpse of something in the Slytherin's hands. He could not see it clearly, but it seemed as if Malfoy was carrying a box of some kind, maybe a small chest. His curiosity sparked, Harry silently snuck out of his hiding place and followed the Slytherin. He took a peek into the corridor Malfoy had just gone into, but there was a left turn a few feet ahead and Harry couldn't see him. He only heard his receding steps farther along the corridor.

Harry knew that he really should be getting into class, but he needed to find out what Malfoy was up to. Ever since that attack on the train station and after what had happened on the train ride to Hogwarts, Harry was convinced that Malfoy had to know something about what Voldemort and the Death Eaters were planning. Malfoy had not really said or done anything that would confirm this suspicion, at least not since they had arrived at the castle, but that made Harry only all the more suspicious. Especially since he was sneaking around in the castle when he actually should be in class. And he wanted to know what was in that box.

Harry listened to Malfoy's steps as he followed the Slytherin along the corridor, peeking around corners before rounding them. There were many twists and turns in the corridor, so Harry never had Malfoy actually in his sight, but he always heard his steps before him.

Until suddenly the steps stopped. Harry immediately stopped as well and listened into the silence, afraid that despite all his attempts at keeping silent, Malfoy might have heard him. But there were no steps coming either back towards Harry or moving farther away. Just silence. After a minute of listening with bated breath, Harry made a few cautious steps forward and peeked around the corner.

A dead end.

Slowly, Harry followed the short corridor into a round chamber that was completely empty. No trace of Malfoy, but that couldn't be. The Slytherin had been in front of him for the entire time, there was simply no way that he could have vanished like that, without a trace. There was no other visible entrance from this room which upon closer inspection turned out not to be circular at all. Rather, it was octagonal, each of its sides hewn out of rough stone with something carved into the stone near the top. It looked like runes, but Harry could not make out what they said.

But where had Malfoy vanished to?

One after another, Harry approached the sides of the room and pressed his hands against the stone, trying to find the way out Malfoy must have taken. But none of the walls would bulge, and despite his curiosity, Harry simply didn't have the time to try and find out what Malfoy was up to. He was already ten minutes late for class, he needed to hurry to get into lesson.

With a last frustrated look around the room, Harry turned around and retraced his steps to where he had first seen Malfoy. On his way, he detected no other niches or corridors through which Malfoy could have vanished, and when he reached the corridor from which the Slytherin had emerged earlier, Harry forced all thoughts about this strange encounter from his mind.

He ran down the corridors and passages until he finally arrived on the third floor and stormed down the last corridor that would lead him to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Panting from his dash thought the castle, Harry finally reached the door to the classroom, pulled it open, an apology for Fairbanks already on his lips. And he stopped short.

There was no trace of Professor Fairbanks in the classroom. Instead, Snape in all his ugly glory was standing behind the desk, glaring at Harry.

"So kind of you to fit this insignificant lesson into your schedule, Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor."

Harry opened his mouth to reply something, but Snape cut him short with a quick gesture of his hand. "I'll gladly deduce even more points, Potter. Close the door and come straight up front. You obviously think that you don't need any duelling lessons, then this is your time to prove how good you truly are."

"But I didn't…"

"Another ten points from Gryffindor. I think I just gave you a clear instruction. Come up front and prepare for duel."  
Harry bit his lip and stepped up to the cleared space in front of the teacher's desk. Just like Snape, to deduce points from him and not even ask what Malfoy was up to. Probably Malfoy would waltz in here in a few minutes and Snape would not as much as glance into the Slytherin's direction. Maybe he'd even compliment him on finding the classroom before the end of lesson.

As Harry took up position for duel he realised with a sinking feeling in his stomach that Blaise Zabini was standing there. He had expected Snape to let him duel a Slytherin, somebody of whom Snape could be sure of that he wouldn't go easy on Harry, but Harry had been hoping for Crabbe or Goyle. Zabini was a lot faster, and not nearly as dumb as those two.

"Wands out", Snape's voice sounded from behind. "On my command. Duel now!"

Zabini's first curse shot towards Harry even before Snape had started saying his command. There was no time for him to counter it, or to duck in time, but he managed to move away so that the curse merely brushed his left arm. A burning pain hit his elbow and quickly spread through the entire arm, so badly that Harry could hardly move without stabs of pain shooting through his entire left side. Before he could even think about casting a spell of his own into Zabini's direction, Harry quickly cast a Shielding Spell around himself and moved a little to the left, forcing the Slytherin to turn with him. On his way to the castle, the sun had been in Harry's back, so if he moved just to the right spot in front of the window, Zabini would be looking straight into the sun. He cast a quick leg-numbing jinx into Zabini's direction, followed it with a confounding spell and moved in front of the window, but just then something hit him in the right shoulder and he was smashed to the floor.

The pain was excruciating, and no amount of curling in on himself could make it lessen. Harry writhed on the floor, his breathing harsh and fast, his wand fallen from his right hand. He would have clutched his hurt shoulder with his left hand, had it not been for the numb pain from Zabini's earlier spell that was still throbbing through his elbow and had every movement turn into a new lesson in agony.

Whatever those spells had been, Harry was fairly sure that they had not been taught at Hogwarts.

After a few moments, Harry thought he heard a voice talking through the rush of blood in his ears, and as he labouredly opened his eyes he found Snape grinning down on him with a smirk on his face. The head of Slytherin house waved his wand once above Harry's shoulder, then above his elbow and stepped back without as much as a second glance at Harry.

Only as he struggled into a sitting position did Harry become aware of Hermione and Ron kneeling next to him, their faces paler than they normally were.

"Are you all right?", Hermione asked anxiously.

Harry quickly nodded. He was. The pain in his elbow had vanished, and the pain in his right shoulder had been reduced to a dull throbbing. Harry strongly suspected that Snape could have vanished that pain entirely as well, but had chosen not to.

Still breathing hard and with a beastly anger rising in his stomach, Harry struggled to his feet.

"Ten points to Slytherin for a successfully won duel. I know that Professor Fairbanks", Snape pronounced the name as if it was a disease he would catch if he spoke it out loud, "does not approve of the usage of certain spells during duelling, but aim of this class it to prepare you for the real world. And there are no holds barred in the real world. Good work, Mr. Zabini."

Snape turned around and sneered into Harry's direction. "As for Mr. Potter, another ten points from Gryffindor. What you did was unimaginative, inefficient, and hardly at second year level. Just as bad as I remember your attempts at potions brewing to be. You should have done yourself and us the favour of not bothering to appear to this lesson."

"You mean like Malfoy did?"

It took Harry a second to realise that it had been him who had snarled the words back at Snape. The Potions master whirled into Harry's direction.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor, and detention tonight. I will not tolerate your insolence, or your talking back to me. Mr. Malfoy has been excused from today's lesson, and now I don't want to hear another word from you or Gryffindor will loose whatever points it has left."

Seething with anger, Harry picked up his wand and stepped back against the wall. Ron and Hermione followed and sat down on either side of him, but Harry barely noticed. He glared at Snape for the remainder of the lesson, but the Potions master completely ignored him. Gryffindor lost another ten points for the duel Neville lost against Pansy Parkinson, but Harry barely paid any attention to that. Had he done, he'd have realised that while Neville was extremely nervous, he wasn't doing as badly as he'd probably have done a year ago.

Only when the bell rang to announce the end of the lesson did Harry move again. He rose from his position on the floor, reached for his bag and wanted to leave the room as quickly as possible. But Snape held him back.

"My office, eight o'clock tonight. I'd advice you not to be late."

Harry nodded courtly, then he hurried out of the classroom.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in front of the Gryffindor fireplace, bent over the Marauder's Map. Both of his friends had been trying to make Harry tell them why he had been so late over lunch, but he had stoically shovelled his food into his mouth as quickly as he could and then had hurried up into the common room, leaving Ron and Hermione no choice but to follow him. He really needed to get to the bottom of this, especially since Malfoy had been suspiciously absent from lunch that day.

The common room had been rather deserted over lunch, fortunately, and Harry had quickly summed up for them what had happened after he had left Hagrid's lesson. They had listened without interruption, and when he had told them about the strange octagonal room and about Malfoy vanishing without a trace, both had frowned. Neither of them had ever been to that room before, and so Harry had fetched the Marauder's Map from the trunk in his dormitory and was now trying to retrace his steps from earlier that day.

"All right, I was on the fifth floor. I must have been on the north side, so I think it was this staircase I came down by." Harry pointed at the staircase with his finger, then followed the corridor until it met another corridor. "Here, that must have been where I met Malfoy. I came from that long corridor, and he came from my left and went into the corridor to my right."

Ron shook his head as Harry's finger moved across the parchment. "I've been on the fifth floor many times before, but never there. Nowhere near there, even."

"It looked as if hardly anybody ever came there", Harry said, his eyes never leaving the parchment. "Look here, that's the corridor. There are many twist and turns, but no other corridors branch off, do you see?"

The three of them crowded closer around the map and followed the progress of Harry's finger along the lines of the corridor on the map. After a number of twists and turns, it ended, and the map showed the same octagonal room Harry had been in this morning. Harry had always trusted the Marauder's Map to tell him the secrets of Hogwarts, but in this case the map only labelled it as _Octagonal Chamber_. Nothing further.

"It would seem as if Sirius and your father never found out if there was another way out of the room", Hermione said. Harry nodded, his eyes fixed on the map as if he was hoping that the labelling would change. After a minute or so, he got up from his chair.

"I'll go there again. It's our afternoon off, do you come with me?"

Ron immediately stood as well, only Hermione cast a doubtful glance at her watch. "I really should be in the library and start on my Arithmacy homework."

"Come on, Hermione. You can always go there later, this here is far more interesting than any Arithmacy could ever be."

Hermione still looked doubtful, but after a moment she stood as well. "All right, then let's see what this room is all about."

With a grin Harry folded the Marauder's Map, put it into the pocket of his robes, and climbed out of the portrait hole. It took them a little while to find their way to the fifth floor corridor where Harry had seen Malfoy pass by. It was no small wonder that they had never been in this part of the castle before, it was awfully hard to reach from the direction of Gryffindor Tower. But finally they stood next to the suit of armour Harry had been hiding behind. Harry stepped towards the end of the corridor and gestured towards the left.

"That's the way leading down to the fourth floor. Malfoy came up here, and then he walked straight ahead into this corridor."

Harry pulled out the map again and checked it. They were alone in this part of the castle, no other labelled dot was moving anywhere near the three dots that marked Harry, Ron and Hermione. The moved into the corridor towards the octagonal chamber, and Harry found himself once more checking the walls for any sign of a hidden corridor or any other way that Malfoy could have vanished. But he saw nothing. After the last twist in the corridor, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the octagonal chamber.

"Blimey, what's that?", Ron muttered as he looked around the room.

Hermione, an interested frown on her face, was stepping along the walls, her eyes on the symbols that were inscribed on top of the walls.

"For what purpose would somebody build a room like this in the castle?", she asked, turning towards Ron and Harry again. "It's too small to be a classroom, there's nothing stored here, and it serves absolutely no obvious purpose. Yet it's at the end of a long, twisted corridor that only leads here. I mean, why build something like this if it has no purpose?"

Harry found himself nodding. "That's true, but the room is definitely here. So now we need to find out what Malfoy was doing here. He was carrying some sort of box, and I had the impression that he knew exactly where he was going. And then he simply vanished. He came in here and didn't come out again, so there has to be another way out of here."

Hermione stepped from one side of the room to the next, pressing against the walls, tapping with her wand here and there, muttering to herself. When she was finished, she turned back towards Harry and Ron.

"All right, there are eight sides to the room. One is taken up by the entrance. Which means that one of the other seven sides has to be a secret exit. There's no other explanation."

Harry nodded again. "Right. And how do we get it to open?"

"Well, that's the big question." Hermione stepped to the wall directly left to the entrance and stared at the inscriptions.

"I don't recognise that. It's no runes I've ever seen. But maybe those inscriptions say how to open the passage, if there is one."

She pulled a piece of parchment and a self-inking quill out of the pocket of her robes and began copying down some of the runes.

"I'll have a look at that in the library later. Maybe I can find out what it means."

Harry started pacing the room nervously. "Which means that until you find out, meaning _if_ you find out at all, Malfoy is free to do whatever he wants?"

Hermione frowned at him, but it was Ron who answered. "Doesn't seem to me as if there was any other way. Except if you keep out an eye on Malfoy and see what he's up to."

Harry breathed a frustrated sigh. He didn't particularly fancy that idea, but probably Ron was right. He'd simply keep the map with him at all times to try and find out where Malfoy was going and what he was doing.

"Do you think you can find out what this means?"

Hermione looked at her notes, then she shrugged. "There are a lot of reference works on runes in the library. But still it would depend very much on how old those runes are, and of what origin. Let me check it this afternoon, then I can tell you more. And I really need to get going now, my homework won't do itself on its own."

Together they departed from the strange octagonal chamber, made their way back through the twisting passageway until they reached the corridor that would take them back to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione left for the library, and Harry and Ron sank back into their previously vacated chairs.

"Do you really think Malfoy is up to something?", Ron asked after a moment.

Harry nodded. "Yes, I do. It isn't normal, not even for him, that he gets excused from lesson and then sneaks around in the castle. Without his usual bodyguard. I am convinced that he's planning something, and I'm worried that it'll be something bad. So if Hermione can't decipher those runes, we need to find another way of keeping tabs on Malfoy. Even if I have to follow him with my father's cloak." He checked his watch. "I should get started on my homework, seeing that I have that stupid detention with Snape tonight."

Ron sighed. "Mate, I don't envy you for that. Snape looked furious earlier, and we both know that he's always keen to let you suffer from his moods."

"Yeah, I'm just glad that physical punishment isn't practiced at Hogwarts, otherwise he'd probably have me flogged. I can imagine only too well how much that would please Snape. And Filch would probably be only too keen to help."

He blew a deep breath, then he got up and fetched his school bag to get started on his homework.


	14. Blistering Detention

**Chapter 14 – Blistering Detention**

Ron and Hermione threw all the pity they could muster into their looks as Harry departed for his detention with Snape that night. There were few things Harry would want to do less right now than going to that detention and spend the rest of his evening with Snape, but it seemed there was no avoiding it. At two minutes to eight, Harry rapped his knuckles against the door to Snape's office and silently vowed not to let that man goad him into any kind of emotional reaction this evening as he waited for Snape to answer.

"Enter!", came the voice from within, and Harry opened the door. It was just like he had done many times during the summer, when he had come to this office for his lessons in Occlumency, and already back then Harry had hated every minute of it.

Snape was sitting behind his desk as Harry entered, leafing through a book and taking notes in the margin. He looked up shortly when Harry stepped up to the desk, but then turned back to his reading. Harry stood and impatiently waited for Snape to acknowledge his presence in any way. But Snape didn't. Instead, he continued reading in the book, making the occasional note next to the text or underlining certain passages while crossing out others. Three more times he turned the page before the chapter came to an end, ten endless minutes during which Harry had to restrain himself not to drum his hand impatiently against his thigh, anything just to make Snape get over and don with it.

Finally, as if he had all the time in the world, Snape put away the quill, closed the book slowly, got up and placed it on one of the shelves behind his desk. Only then did he turn around towards Harry, but instead of saying anything he merely stared at the teenager for a long moment from those cold black eyes of his.

"Sir?", Harry finally clenched out, feeling as if the word might choke him.

Something crossed Snape's face then, something dark and so full of hatred that made a small shudder run down Harry's spine. He had done his best to push away the thoughts of what had happened during the summer, but this one look from Snape told Harry clearly enough that his professor had not forgotten.

"Potter", Snape finally snarled out. He stared at Harry for a moment longer, then he broke eye contact, got up from his chair and turned towards the door. "Follow me", he said without breaking stride. Harry had no choice but to follow Snape into his workroom where, much to Harry's dismay, a huge stack of cauldrons and beakers, all smeared, dirty and encrusted, were piled up on one workbench.

"Those need to be cleaned thoroughly. You will find everything you need in the cabinet beneath the sink. Hand over your wand, please."

Harry thought about resisting, but with an angry sigh he drew his wand from the pocket and handed it over to Snape. It vanished into one of the pockets of Snape's robes, and the man nodded.

"You may start now. You will not leave before everything is finished to my satisfaction."  
Harry turned towards the cabinet underneath the sink with an outwardly calm demeanour that surprised even him. Inside, he was seething with anger. Snape could easily clean all that stuff with a few waves of his wand, but instead Harry was supposed to scrub those burnt and encrusted cauldrons until his knuckles bled. And tomorrow there would be a Quidditch training, and Harry would probably have a hard time wrapping his fingers around a broom handle after this.

While Harry got cleaning detergents, a sponge and a scrub from the cabinet, Snape lit a fire on one of the other workbenches and put a cauldron on top of it. Harry felt his heart sink. Not only would he have to spend his evening with scrubbing, this also meant that Snape was going to be in the same room.

"The longer you wait, Potter, the longer this is going to take. Start."

Biting his lip, Harry filled the sink with water, submerged the first cauldron and started to scrub. Methodically he scrubbed and soaked the dirty crusts until they came off, but every time he turned around to reach for a new cauldron or beaker to clean, he found that Snape had added something else to the never-decreasing pile left for Harry to clean. And it seemed to him that Snape was taking great care to let every single cauldron he was brewing in burn at the bottom or get encrusted with spilt potion, just so that Harry had even more to do. The way things looked now, he wasn't going to get out of here before midnight. The only good thing was that while working at the sink, Harry had his back to Snape and didn't need to look at him.

About an hour later, the stack he still had to clean didn't look to have become any smaller. Harry put a clean beaker on an empty table to dry, turned around and reached for the next cauldron to clean. But no sooner had his hand touched it that a searing pain shot through his fingers and he dropped the cauldron to the floor where it clashed audibly against the tiles. Snape spun around, his right hand automatically hovering at the hilt of his wand, but Harry paid no notice. He stared at his hand and could see blisters rise on top of all five of his fingers. Hissing with pain, Harry hurried over to the sink and started to run cold water over his hand.

A moment later, there was movement at his side and Snape stepped into Harry's line of vision, a wide sneer on his face.

"I have a right mind to deduce more points from Gryffindor for using such a foul language."

Harry bit back a remark. He hadn't even been aware that he had been cursing, but it was no small wonder. The cauldron had been scalding hot, probably Snape had taken it from the fire mere seconds before Harry had turned around.

Snape watched Harry's discomfort for a few moments longer, then he wordlessly withdrew and fetched a bottle from the workbench where he had been working on earlier.

"That way, at least I can test whether the infirmary's next supply of pain-numbing salve will be effective. Your hand, Potter."

There was nothing Harry wanted less than to let Snape do anything to his injured hand, but the burns were aching fiercely and while he knew that Snape held no love for him, at least he was sure that the man would not injure him any further. Not here at Hogwarts, at least, straight under Dumbledore's nose. Still a little hesitant, Harry stretched out his hand. Snape tilted the bottle and poured a dollop of salve into Harry's palm.

"Spread that over the blisters. As soon as the pain lessens, continue your work."

Snape put the stopper back in the bottle and returned to his worktable. Harry felt his anger flare up in horrible force. "I am supposed to scrub cauldrons with blisters the size of galleons on each of my fingers?"

Snape turned towards Harry and sneered. "Yes, you are supposed to do exactly that. I set you a task for detention, and I expect you to fulfil it."

Harry was sorely tempted to throw one or more cauldrons into Snape's direction, but instead he merely shook his head and continued to rub the pain-numbing potion into his skin. Now he definitely wouldn't be able to hold on to his broom tomorrow, not if he had to soak his blisters in that water for the remaining evening. "You put that hot cauldron there on purpose, didn't you?"

Snape's sneer widened. "Let's just say that I didn't consider the possible consequences before I acted. A thing you should be able to relate to, shouldn't you?"

"So that's what it's all about?" Harry couldn't believe his ears. "You're still pissed because of what happened last summer, and now you're trying to let me pay for it during the school year?"

With two quick steps Snape was towering in front of Harry, far closer to Harry than the teenager felt comfortable with. "I will not take that insolent tone from you, Potter. And this is not about something that _happened_ last summer. Nothing _happened_ last summer, Potter, you _did_ something last summer. That is a difference, a very important distinction. It wasn't that I happened to stumble into a situation that forced me to break whatever vows I made about using the powers I inherited. You brought me into a situation where I had no choice but to do that which I had sworn never to do. You compromised me, Potter, you forced me to reveal myself for what I am, and you brought me into a situation that very nearly killed me. That is nothing that just happened, it is something you _did_. You, and you alone. Do you understand that distinction? Is that little-minded brain of yours capable of seeing that distinction? But I should not expect you to ever understand it, Potter. Like father, like son. And now get back to work."

Snape turned back to his work, and Harry had no choice but to continue with his.

At half past eleven Harry put the last cauldron onto the draining board, suppressing a pained hiss as he did so. The blisters on his hand had broken open over an hour ago, and the amount of pain-numbing salve Snape had given him had helped to stop the pain for exactly five minutes, not any longer. By now his fingers were pounding in time with his heartbeat, and the skin on his hands was so soaked from being submerged in the water that the skin which had covered the blisters hung down in shreds.

Harry drained the water from the sink, stashed the brushes and sponges in the cupboard beneath it again, then turned towards Snape, who was waving his wand, directing a quill to write labels on the bottles he had filled earlier. Snape looked up briefly from his work, then he checked his watch.

"Dismissed, Potter."

Without looking at his student, Snape withdrew Harry's wand from his pocket and held it out. Harry quickly grabbed it, then he wordlessly turned around and left the workroom without so much as a glance back at Snape. Angrily, he climbed the stairs and hurried along the corridors, not looking left or right until he had reached the portrait hole that led to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady was snoring softly in her portrait, and only as Harry cleared his throat audibly did she open her eyes and made a great show of waking up.

"Password?", she brought out between two yawns.

"Nimblewit."

The portrait swung aside and Harry climbed into the common room, which at this hour was nearly deserted. A few fifth years were still clustered around a table in the far corner, discussing something in low voices, nervousness about the O.W.L. examination already tangible in their behaviour. And Hermione was sitting in an armchair in front of the fire, a huge tome open in her lap. Harry went over to her and sank down in the armchair facing hers.

"Harry, Snape kept you pretty long."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, he did. Had me scrubbing cauldrons for hours, the slimy bastard. And to top it all, he put a scalding hot one on top, just to make sure I'd burn my fingers."

He raised his hand and showed Hermione the broken blisters on his fingers. Hermione's eyes widened, then she sprung up from her chair. "I still have some Murtlap essence, I'll get it."

She hurried up the staircase into the girls' dormitory, and a minute later she returned with a bowl in her hands. Harry took it and with a grateful sigh submerged his fingers in the healing essence.

"Thanks, you're my saviour. I wouldn't know how I'm supposed to hold a broom tomorrow." He gestured towards the book Hermione had been reading. "What's this?"

"I've been checking out those runes from that chamber", Hermione said with a sigh. "I've checked all the general reference works on runes, but I haven't found anything resembling those runes. This is one of the more obscure works on runes, but so far I've had no luck, either. I think I'll just call it a night."

Harry nodded. "I've been thinking earlier. If we don't find anything, we could write to Sirius and Remus about it. Maybe they know more about what that chamber is there for. Or even if they don't, maybe they can help identify the runes."  
Hermione nodded. "Sounds good."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

It took four days for the blisters on Harry's hand to heal entirely, which made his Quidditch practice on Saturday and doing his homework over the weekend pure hell, despite two visits to the Hogwarts infirmary after Hermione's emergency supply of Murtlap essence ran out. But with the Hogwarts weekend coming up and the prospect of spending at least a couple of hours down in the village made the pain bearable for Harry.

And all the while the strange Octagonal Chamber and the question why Draco Malfoy had been going there didn't give his mind any rest. Once or twice Harry found his steps turning towards that ominous fifth floor corridor, but he never saw anything of interest on his way there. Especially not Draco Malfoy lurking around somewhere.

But Harry had developed something of a plan, one that would allow him to keep an eye out on that chamber and on Draco Malfoy without always climbing up into that deserted part of the castle. He kept on carrying his father's invisibility cloak in the inside pocket of his robes at all times, as well as the Marauder's Map. At least once or twice each hour he checked the map, first looking to see whether anybody was on the fifth floor corridor, then he sought out the tiny dot labelled "Draco Malfoy" to see where the Slytherin was an what he was up to. It was a better tactic than crouching in the Octagonal Chamber all day, waiting for something to happen, but it also didn't provide many results.

The fifth floor corridor seemed to be deserted, no matter what time of day it was. Once Harry saw Professor Trelawney enter the corridor Harry had first been in before he had seen Malfoy, but halfway along the length Trelawney had turned around and walked back to where she had come from. Also, her dot had been swaying around slightly, suggesting to Harry that maybe the Divination teacher had not quite overcome her preference for cooking sherry as of yet. But aside from that little episode, Harry hadn't seen one single person even in the vicinity of the corridor.

As for Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin seemed to spend an awful lot of time either in his dormitory or in the Slytherin common room, nothing more interesting than that. But Harry didn't even consider giving up on watching Malfoy. He simply knew that the Slytherin was up to something, and that it was nothing good. There had already been a Death Eater attack that Harry had witnessed this year, and over the past two weeks the reports in the _Daily Prophet_ suggested more and more that the outside world wasn't safe anymore. People vanished or were attacked and killed, there were more and more Death Eater sightings, Dementors were sighted in the coastal areas all over the country and panic was beginning to spread, and that not exactly slowly. Harry desperately wished that he could talk to Sirius about all those news, maybe get some explanations and more detailed information from his godfather, but so far there was no indication that Harry would see Sirius again before Christmas.

So that meant he'd just have to wait, no matter how little he liked it.

On Tuesday morning, Harry tiredly dragged himself down the stairs and into the Great Hall. He had nearly overslept and was barely awake yet, and so every nerve ending in his body was craving for a fix of caffeine.

Maybe it was because he still was so tired, but as he stepped into the Great Hall and slowly made his way over towards the Gryffindor table, he didn't notice that the mood in the room was unusually hushed and that nearly all students had buried their heads in the morning edition of the _Daily Prophet_.

Harry sank down in his usual chair with a sigh and reached for the plate with toast.

"Could you hand me the coffee?", he mumbled into Hermione's direction and started to spread strawberry jam onto his slice of toast. When no coffee came forward in what Harry thought an acceptable time, he put his toast down and looked up at his friend.

"Hermione? Could you hand me the coffee?"

Hermione finally tore her eyes away from the paper and looked at Harry. "Haven't you heard?"

A surge of adrenaline far more powerful than coffee short through Harry's body and his heart started to thump. "What happened?"

Hermione pushed the coffeepot into Harry's direction, then she turned the paper around into Harry's direction. Harry poured himself a cup of coffee and only then dared to cast his eyes onto the front page of the paper.

_**Death Eater Attack on Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge**_

_by Gilda Wardable_

_The Death Eater strikes of the past days have reached a new climax when yesterday in the early evening hours a group of Death Eaters, reportedly eight or more, attacked the house of Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. The Minister and his wife, Lobelia Fudge, were not at their Westchester residence at the time of the attack and only because of that escaped the gruesome fate You-Know-Who had in store for them._

_Neighbours called the incident in at the Auror Department, but the forces that were immediately dispatched only found the house in ruins, the Dark Mark in the sky above it. Preliminary reports state that upon finding the Minister not home at the time of the attack, the Death Eaters caused as much damage to the property as they could before the Auror forces arrived._

_Minister Fudge was not available for a press statement yesterday evening, but his office declared that both Mr. and Mrs. Fudge were well, if a bit shaken, and that they had been brought to a secure location for the time being and are being kept under twenty-four hour guard. Yet Minister Fudge is expected at his office for work this morning, under high security._

_Neither the Minister's office nor the Department of Magical Law enforcement were willing to give another statement concerning the Death Eater attacks over the past weeks and their culmination in last night's events._

_However, looking back over the past two weeks, one has to notice that the Death Eater attacks are growing more and more frequent. Azkaban prison has been taken by You-Know-Who and his followers, freeing the Dementors and setting criminals free. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has threatened to set werewolves free on our unsuspecting community. And now it is only by lucky chance that our highest ranking representative escaped yesterday's attack. Yet as a free newspaper and the voice of wizarding community, the Daily Prophet _has_ no choice but to ask the question whether the Ministry is working effectively against the threat we all are facing._

_So far, there is no indication that the DMLE is making any progress in either re-taking Azkaban from the Death Eaters, locating You-Know-Who or protecting our government officials._

_On the contrary, it has been brought to the Daily Prophet's attention that the Department of Law Enforcement itself is shaken by internal struggles. Though not officially announced, reliable resources tell this reporter that deputy chief of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Janus Lupin, has been withdrawn from all active investigations and has not been replaced yet._

_Considering the attack of the previous night, it seems doubtful that the Ministry of Magic has as much a handle on the situation as they want to make us believe._


	15. Old Antagonisms

**Chapter 15 – Old Antagonisms**

Harry slowly lowered the paper and blindly reached for his lukewarm coffee.

"Merlin", he breathed out. "Voldemort tried to kill Fudge?"

"It seems so", Hermione said. "Though I don't quite understand why."

Harry put the paper away and looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I can understand that He-", she hesitated, then shook her head, "that _Voldemort_ would have an interest in showing the world what he's capable of. But I mean, think back on what we've seen from Fudge, and what we know about him. Of all the people, he's definitely not the greatest threat to Voldemort right now."

Harry thought about that for a moment, then he shrugged. "For what reason ever, they obviously did try to kill him. Man, I really wish I could talk to Sirius. Being secluded here in the castle sometimes drives me mad."

Ron shrugged between two bites of toast. "I'd guess that headquarters are also at an uproar. I don't think that calling from here will work anyways, so I think you'll just have to write another letter."

Harry shook his head. "That's not the same. He's always answering my letters, but it takes days until his replies arrive. Not that he's answering any questions which he thinks too sensitive. If it goes on like that, I'll have to wait until Christmas before I can talk to him again."

Harry sighed and pushed away his breakfast plate, his hunger suddenly all but forgotten. "I'll meet you in class."

Harry got up and walked out of the Great Hall where he started pacing up and down the corridors. It was really irking him that he couldn't talk to Sirius whenever he wanted to. Letters were well and fine, far more than he had had over the past years, but still right now it wasn't enough. Harry knew that Sirius wouldn't like to hear about his renewed suspicion against Malfoy, but still Harry desperately wanted to talk to him about what he had seen a few days back.

As much as Harry loved Hogwarts, especially in times like these it felt horribly secluded. Every piece of news he received either came from letters or from the _Daily Prophet_. It all felt so surreal, as if it was happening somewhere far away. But it wasn't, Harry constantly reminded himself. It was happening close by, and it was happening really close to Sirius and the other people in the Order, and that thought alone caused a constant knot in Harry's stomach.

And now Voldemort had tried to have Fudge killed. Over the past days, there had been reports in the _Daily Prophet_ about Death Eater attacks on people working for the Ministry of Magic. There were daily attacks by the Death Eaters as of late, and not all of them made headlines in the paper. Only two days ago, a second year Ravenclaw boy had been told that his father had been killed. He was the only student Harry was aware of who had lost a parent to this war, but Harry feared that he would not be the last. His mother had taken the Ravenclaw home with her, and Harry knew that some concerned parents were thinking about doing the same.

Yesterday evening two Gryffindor girls had received letters by their parents who were announcing to take them home. Harry could sympathise with the feeling that right now people wanted to be close to their loved ones, he himself would give a lot to be able and be with Sirius right now, but he doubted whether taking the children out of school was a wise choice. Right now, Hogwarts was probably safer than most other places. Still it felt like a prison to Harry at this moment.

As Harry checked his watch he realised that it was time to go to his duelling class. He drew a deep breath and climbed up the stairs. A cluster of students had assembled in front of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and with a frown Harry joined Ron and Hermione.

"Why don't we go in?"

"The door is locked", Hermione said. "I guess we'll have to wait for Professor Fairbanks."

Ron's expression was hopeful. "Maybe he's sick and the lesson will be cancelled. Then we could go down to the Quidditch pitch and you could throw some Quaffles at me. I could do with some extra training."

Harry was about to answer, but at that moment the door to the classroom opened and Professor Fairbanks as well as – much to Harry's dismay – Snape stepped out. Next to Harry, Ron stifled a groan.

"Just what I needed", he whispered to Harry, who nodded.

"Good morning", Fairbanks greeted the students who immediately stopped their chatter. Snape stared from one student to the next, handing out silent glares that had Neville shaking a little in anticipation of what was to come. Fairbanks' next words did nothing to soothe the Gryffindor's fears.

"You might have already noticed that today's lesson won't be exactly like the lessons before. So far, we have covered the basics of classical duelling, we have gone over quite a number of spells, but what we have covered so far were always things you were prepared for. I have decided that now would be a good time to give you the feeling of what it is like to get involved in a situation where you have to defend yourself if you are surprised by our opponent. You still have the advantage that you know that you will be attacked, but not where or when. Professor Snape and I have put some effort into this exercise, so don't be overly surprised when you enter and don't recognise the classroom anymore.

So here's what I want you to do. Professor Snape and I are going to go back into the classroom in a minute. We will be your opponents for today. Before that, we will put you into pairs and you will enter the classroom one pair after another. Your goal will be to get through the classroom and leave it through the door which we have conjured at the other end. You will have to find your way to the door and you will have to evade being stunned or otherwise incapacitated by Professor Snape and me. The door will open automatically when the next pair is supposed to enter. I hope that I don't need to remind you about the rules. You are allowed any means to reach the back door, but remember: no illegal curses, nothing that can cause permanent damage. All right, let's see about getting you paired up."

Fairbanks and Snape turned towards the group of students and started pairing them up. Harry took a look at Ron and with a nod assured himself that they would pair up for this unexpected exercise.

"Mr. Potter, I think not", a snarling voice suddenly interrupted from the side. Harry looked up to find Snape standing right next to him, a wide sneer on his face and his coal black eyes shining with malice.

"It would be so much better practice for you if you'd finally stop teaming up with Mr. Weasley just for friendship's sake. Why don't we find somebody more suited for your abilities, Mr. Weasley. You will pair up with Mr. Goyle. As for _Mr_. Potter…" Snape stepped aside and pointed at Malfoy who was standing next to Goyle, a sneer on his face that equalled the one Snape was showing. Harry opened his mouth to protest, turned to find Fairbanks in the hope that maybe he would reconsider that pairing, but at that moment Fairbanks clapped his hands loudly.

"Everybody paired up? Very well. Why don't Mr. Zabini and Miss Parkinson make a start, and then you follow in the order of how close you're standing to the door. Mr. Zabini, Miss Parkinson, you enter when the door opens. Good luck to all of you."

And before Harry could form any words of protest about his being paired up with Malfoy, the professors had vanished and the students were standing in pairs in front of the door, waiting for it to open. Half a minute later, the door opened again and Zabini and Parkinson entered the classroom. All the other students craned their necks to get a glimpse at what was awaiting them when their turn came, but the room was entirely dark and didn't allow a single glimpse.

There was nothing to do for them but wait until the two Slytherins came back out of the classroom and they'd maybe get to know a little more about what this exercise was all about. But seemingly Fairbanks and Snape had been clever enough to anticipate their students' curiosity. Seemingly, the recently installed back door led to another corridor, because after a few minutes, the door opened again to allow the next pair of students to enter, but Zabini and Parkinson didn't appear again. With a sigh, Harry leaned against the wall next to Ron.

"I'm sure Snape did that on purpose", Ron mumbled. "Pairing you up with Malfoy. And I'm stuck with Goyle. _Somebody more suited for your abilities_, my ass. I'm not the most clever person, admittedly, but I'm not as dumb as a glob of snail-slime."

"Yeah, I'm not overly excited, either. But it's just one lesson, I just hope that Snape won't be here during the next couple of lessons."

Ron nodded and together they waited until it was their turn. One after the other the pairs of students vanished into the classroom until only Harry and Malfoy were left standing in front of the door. Harry leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest, ignoring Malfoy who was leaning on the wall opposite of him, still sneering widely. If there was one thing Harry hadn't needed today, of all things, it was being in the company of the Slytherin.

It seemed to Harry as if it took endlessly until finally the door to the classroom opened, beckoning Harry and Malfoy in. Malfoy made no move at first, so Harry sighed and entered before the Slytherin. As soon as Malfoy had entered the room, the door shut behind them with audibly creaking hinges. As he entered, Harry was astonished at what Fairbanks and Snape had managed in the room. This was no longer the classroom Harry remembered, instead Harry found himself in a narrow corridor that led straight away for a few feet, then branched off both to the left and the right. Harry pulled his wand and hesitantly made a few steps forward.

"All right Potter", Malfoy drawled from beside Harry. "I don't want to be stuck with you to see how you end up on the receiving end of a curse. I'm going to do this on my own. I'll go to the right."

And without waiting for Harry's answer, Malfoy vanished down the right corridor. Harry sighed and turned towards the left, his wand still held ready in his hand. There was no use in getting angry about Malfoy's commandeering tone, he'd better focus on getting through this exercise. Slowly Harry went down the corridor to his left, trying to keep his steps soundless so that he could better hear what was going on around him. The narrow corridor twisted and turned, the only illumination provided by flickering torches that lined the wall in irregular intervals. After the second turn in the corridor the space between the narrow walls widened, and just as Harry stepped into the flickering cone of light from one of the torches there was the rustling of movement in front of Harry and to his left, and without another sign of warning suddenly a curse shot towards him.

Harry barely had the time to throw himself to the floor, much less the time to ponder the luck that he was stuck with an opponent who was using curses without speaking them aloud.

"_Lumos!"_, Harry yelled while he scrambled back to his knees, and in the sudden flare of light that shot forth from his wand he saw a dark-robed figure standing in an off-branching corridor. Harry couldn't see the person clearly, but he knew immediately that it was Snape standing there, and not Fairbanks.

"_Stupefy!_"

But before Harry's curse reached Snape, he had moved to the side. Knowing that his chances of getting through this exercise were not overly good if he let Snape remain in the role of the hunter, Harry extinguished the light of his wand and moved to close the distance between himself and Snape. He heard footsteps moving away from him and, keeping his head low, Harry followed them.

"_Imperdimentia!_"

Harry saw his curse barely brush the hem of Snape's robes, then the corridor was plunged into darkness again. And Snape's footsteps stopped. Harry remained rooted to the spot, training his eyes to the darkness around him and straining his ears to hear Snape's movements above the sound of his own breathing. Where was Snape? Come to think of it, where was the door he had to reach?

Slowly, silently, Harry felt his way along the wall of the corridor, heart beating fast in his chest and his wand trained into the darkness in front of him. Dimly, he could make out light behind another bend in the corridor and he started to move towards it. But then Harry's right foot struck against something on the floor, a stone or a piece of debris, and it clattered along the stone floor. Before Harry had the chance to move, bright light erupted just to his right, and small stones erupted from a hole in the wall where Snape's curse had struck. Harry ducked down immediately and tried to cover his face, but still he felt the sting of small sharp stones scratching his cheek painfully.

Blindly, he swung around his wand. "_Immobilis!_", he cried blindly into the darkness, but his curse vanished into nothingness. A dry chuckle sounded towards Harry's left, in the opposite direction from where he had expected Snape to be. He ducked down and swivelled his wand-hand around into Snape's direction, but there were footsteps moving again, though Harry could not discern their direction.

"_Locomotor Mortis!_"

Again, Harry's curse missed its aim. And suddenly, an icy chill touched the skin on his chest and spread through his body from there. At first, Harry thought that Snape had hit him with a curse, but after a short moment, Sirius' words from the end of the last summer echoed through his head.

_You should pay attention when the pendant gets cold or warm against your skin, that's always a warning._

Harry quickly moved away from his position, but it was too late. From the corner of his eye, he saw Snape's curse shoot towards him and he knew that he would not be able to evade it in time.

Harry braced himself for the impact of the curse, tried to prepare himself for the embarrassment and Snape's goading, not to mention for a moment of pain when the curse hit, but then the strangest thing happened. The air suddenly started to glow around him, and a warm pulsing emanated from the pendant against Harry's chest, as if trying to ward off the chill of its own warning. And no pain of a curse hitting home came. No physical impact, no impairment in his movements, nothing at all.

Despite of his own astonishment, Harry noticed that Snape stepped into his line of vision, a look of surprise and pure malice on his face.

"Severus!"

And as quickly as it had come, the strange glowing in the air vanished again. A sudden light illuminated the corridor and Harry saw Fairbanks storming towards them, his face pale and his expression way beyond anger. Fairbanks was furious, and without paying any mind to Harry he stormed directly over towards Snape.

"What in the name of all that's good do you think you're doing?"

Snape slowly turned towards Fairbanks and sneered. "I'm doing what you asked me to, Fairbanks."

"What I asked you to do? Did I ask you to try and kill the students? That was a choking spell you just aimed at Potter. Have you lost your mind? Are you entirely mad? Which part of _no spells that cause lasting damage, no spells that are life-threatening_ have you problems with?"

Snape merely raised an eyebrow. "It was no illegal spell, I doubt it would have caused any lasting damage, and I would not think that a few seconds of oxygen-deprivation can be called life-threatening."

"This is not the way I am conducting my exercises, and you bloody well know that!"

Fairbanks was getting more and more agitated, and Harry noticed that behind his calm outward demeanour, Snape was also furious.

"I though the principal point of those little exercises of yours was to prepare your precious students for the real world? Well, let me tell you something, Fairbanks. In the real world, Death Eaters will do their best to try and hurt anybody who confronts them. They won't draw a border at what's legal or not, and most certainly they won't draw a line at whether or not to hurt people. Their aim is to hurt people, and if you are not ready to prepare your students for that, here, in a safe environment, then you can spare yourself the effort completely."

Fairbanks blew out a sound that was half-laugh, half sigh. "You're telling me this was for educational purposes? You restrained yourself all afternoon, and with the last pair of students you suddenly have the insight that you need to take this exercise to a new level entirely? You're seriously trying to tell me that all this has nothing to do whatsoever with our personal aversions against Mr. Potter? Spare me the talk, Severus. For as long as you're assisting in my lessons, you will keep your personal antagonism against me, or against my students at bay, or I will make sure that the headmaster gets to know about your newly-discovered teaching methods. I am having an eye on you, in case you had forgotten."

"Well Fairbanks, in your place I'd much rather ask myself why one of your students was using an illegal protection glamour during your exercise. Potter is cheating, why don't you take _that_ little matter up to the headmaster instead of wasting my time."

And without waiting for an answer, Snape turned around and stormed out of the room. Fairbanks drew a deep breath, then he waved his wand with a flick of his wrist and lightened the corridor.

"Are you all right, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, nothing happened."

"Good. It was good that you deflected Professor Snape's curse. But what did he mean when he said you were using protective glamour?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't. I mean, I didn't even think about it, I wear it all the time."

Seeing Fairbanks' slightly startled expression, Harry reached under his robes and pulled out the pendant. "It's been a present. I've been wearing it all the time for this school year, I didn't even remember that I was wearing it during the duelling lessons."

Fairbanks looked at the pendant closely, bringing his fingers up as if to pull it more towards himself but stopping short of touching it. He slowly raised an eyebrow.

"A blood charm is very strong protective magic, Mr. Potter."

Harry drew the pendant back and settled it against his chest again, feeling suddenly very defensive. "I didn't get it to help me in lessons, Professor. It's meant to protect me, nothing more."

Fairbanks nodded slowly. "I will take a closer look at it during lessons, see if it is giving you an advantage that would be unfair towards the other students. If not, I don't see any reason why I should care whether you wear it or not."

"Okay. But Professor?"

"Yes?"

"Why…this was the first time that the pendant reacted. Sirius – my godfather, he told me that it would react to danger and protect me from curses. But up until today, the pendant never reacted to anything, never mind the duelling lessons."

Fairbanks through for a moment, then he slowly nodded. "Of course I don't know what kind of magic was weaved into the pendant, so maybe you should ask your godfather about it, but my guess would be that the magical protection the pendant provides is very advanced. No matter what we did during duelling lessons so far, none of the curses aimed at you provided any real threat to your health or your life. And you have always been duelling in a save environment, in situations which you had under control and during which you knew you weren't in danger. I'd say all this plays a role in it."

Harry frowned. "So you mean that Professor Snape wanted to harm me?"

Fairbanks shook his head with a slight grimace. "Professor Snape doesn't like you, Mr. Potter. That is obvious and I doubt that I'm telling you anything new with that. But I don't think that his trying to use a choking spell on you was a real attempt to harm you. Even if he wanted to, he'd be very stupid indeed to try something like this here at Hogwarts. I'd rather think that this was Professor Snape's way of going more rough on you than on any other student, and believe me that this hasn't been the last word said about that. But a choking spell could do some serious damage, more than anything other you've been exposed to during duelling lessons. So I guess that is why your pendant reacted."

Fairbanks ran a hand through his hair and checked his watch. "But now you'd better go and join your classmates, otherwise you'll miss lunch."

"Okay."

Fairbanks walked Harry towards the door which – much to Harry's surprise – led into another dungeon corridor.

"Just turn to the right and follow the corridor, then you'll reach the staircase into the entrance hall."

Fairbanks remained behind and Harry quickly followed the corridor and soon reached the stairs which he saw the Slytherin students climb up every morning. He set his feet on the stairs and was halfway up when he suddenly heard voices raised in an argument above him. One was Professor McGonagall's, he noticed, and the other, much to his surprise, was Sirius'. Harry quickly climbed the remaining stairs and found his professor and his godfather locked in an argument right next to the front doors. Sirius seemed agitated, extremely so, and McGonagall was doing her best to try and calm him down. Ron and Hermione were standing next to the pair, both talking at the same time, but Sirius didn't even seem to notice their presence. As Harry hurried closer, he was able to make out what exactly his teacher and godfather were saying.

"Now listen, Sirius", McGonagall was saying in an exasperated voice. "I can assure you that he's in lesson and that he's safe. Don't you think that I'd know if anything had happened to one of my students during lessons?"

But Sirius didn't seem to listen to her words. "And let me tell you that I know when he's in danger, and right now I tell you that he's in danger!"

Harry stepped up to his friends and tried to catch his godfather's attention.

"Hello Sirius", Harry said, and Sirius interrupted himself in the middle of drawing breath for another tirade. His eyes fell on Harry and he immediately turned towards him and put his hands on the teenager's shoulders.

"Harry, are you all right? What happened, all I know is that my pendant suddenly got scorching hot against my skin. I came here as fast as I could, but some people didn't see the need to tell me where you were."

He threw a withering glance in McGonagall's direction, but she merely threw an equally withering look into his direction, her raised eyebrow clearly saying _See? I told you he was all right_. "Seeing that this is cleared up, I'm going to return to my lessons now", she said and vanished down the corridor.

As McGonagall vanished, Sirius didn't release his hold on Harry's shoulders. Instead, he drew him against himself in a tight embrace. Harry had learned to cherish being occasionally hugged by his godfather, but right now he was acutely aware that he was standing in the Hogwarts entrance hall, and that there were students around who were watching. Harry quickly freed himself from the embrace and took a small step back.

Sirius released him and looked from Ron to Hermione and back to Harry. "All right, what in Merlin's name happened here? That pendant wouldn't react if nothing at all had been going on."

"Did Malfoy try anything?", Ron asked Harry, and Sirius frowned in confusion.

"Malfoy? What happened now?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. We've had a duelling lesson, and Snape paired me up with Malfoy. But Malfoy did nothing at all. Snape was trying to curse me when the pendant suddenly reacted. I didn't even realise what it was at first, but it must have been the pendant warding off his curse."

Something dark settled on Sirius' face. "The pendant wouldn't react to just any ordinary curse which you might use in lessons, Harry. If your pendant as well as mine reacted this strongly, he must have used a curse that could have caused great harm. What did he do?"

For a moment, Harry was torn. He wanted to tell Sirius what had happened, but he was also sure hat if he told Sirius, his godfather would definitely lose his temper.

"Harry, what did he do?"

"Snape tried to use a choking spell."

Hermione gasped. "He's not supposed to do that."

"Bloody well he isn't", Sirius all but roared. "Where is that slimy, ugly piece of filth? Where is he? I'm going to drag him to Dumbledore's office by that greasy hair of his if I have to, but he won't get away with that."

"Sirius, calm down. Fairbanks had an eye on him, he saw what he was trying to do. I'm fairly sure that he'll tell Dumbledore about it. And while I really don't fancy being deprived of oxygen, I don't think that Snape really wanted to do any lasting harm. Not here, while Dumbledore's practically watching. It was just his way of showing me that he doesn't particularly like me."

"He tried to choke you, Harry, how in Merlin's name can you be so bloody calm about it?"

"Actually I am not, but there's nothing I can do to change what happened. And I've been wary around Snape for years now, it's not as if today's events had suddenly breached my trust in him. I think he's trying to be as nasty and as obnoxious towards me as he can, but for as long as we're at Hogwarts he won't harm me. Not right under Dumbledore's nose."

Sirius stared at Harry with a look of disbelief on his face. "You're defending Snape?"

Harry nearly laughed out loud. "Yes. I mean, no. Come on, Sirius, you know me. I never liked him, I will never like him. I never trusted him and never will. But I really don't think that he was trying to do me any real harm today, he just singled me out again and was going far harder on me than on everybody else. It was malicious, but it wasn't dangerous. And the pendant stopped the curse before it even hit me, so no harm was done. Just…just relax, all right. This isn't worth you getting into a fight with Snape over."

Sirius breathed a deep sigh, then slowly nodded. "You sound scarily like Remus, somebody ever told you that?"

Harry laughed. "At least now we know that the pendant works. Let's just see it as a test-run."

A small smile stole across Sirius' face. "All right. Let's just hope that good old Snivellus lets some time pass until he comes to headquarters again, otherwise I might change my mind." He checked his watch. "I should be getting back. I left Dung in a more shady part of London, I'm afraid he's built up a flourishing smuggling ring by now. You'll be all right?"

Harry nodded. "Sure. Thanks for coming so quickly, even though it turned out to be a false alarm."

"Anytime. All right, we'll be in touch soon, I promise. Bye. Ron, Hermione."

"Bye Sirius", the three of them mumbled in chorus and Sirius turned towards the front door and left.

"All right, how about we grab some lunch and then head towards the library", Hermione suggested. Harry didn't particularly agree with the library part of her suggestion, but lunch sounded in order as a first step, so he and Ron followed her towards the Great Hall.

"Oh, did poor Potter have to call his godfather to comfort him after the bad, bad duelling lesson? Was poor Potter sad because he didn't manage the exercise?"

Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle suddenly detached themselves out of a shadowy corner and cut of the threesome's way towards the Great Hall. Malfoy was sneering widely, and Harry immediately felt his anger rise.

"Oh, why don't you crawl into a hole and die, Malfoy?", Hermione snapped, grabbed Harry by the arm and brushed past the Slytherins without so much as another glance at them.

"Watch what you're saying, mudblood", Malfoy called after them, and Harry felt Hermione's grip on his arm tightening.

"Just don't listen to him", she whispered, though not to Harry but to Ron, who upon Malfoy's last words had halted his steps and was about to turn around. "It's not worth it."

They entered the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table as usual. As they loaded food to their plates, Harry cast Hermione a look. "_Crawl into a hole and die?_"

Hermione suppressed a short laugh. "It was the first thing that came to mind. And I'm just fed up with his remarks, reacting to them is just a waste of time and energy."

"And there's always the chance that he'll take up on your suggestion, no matter how small that chance might be", Ron said with a grin as he started to load mashed potatoes onto his plate. Harry felt a grin of his own tug at the corners of his mouth as he reached for the food.

"Yeah, that's a thought to cling to."

He started on his food, in his thoughts mulling over everything that had happened this morning. All right, so he didn't particularly fancy being choked by Snape, but somehow he believed that Fairbanks was right. So Snape was a Death Eater, and Harry wasn't really convinced that he was indeed the good double agent everybody else thought him to be, but if he really wanted to get rid of Harry, he'd surely chose a more subtle way than choking him right in front of another teacher. He wouldn't put it past Snape to try and poison him if he really wanted to, subtly so that nobody would notice. That sounded more like the sneaky bastard than choking him like that.

At least this morning's exercise had shown something else. Snape and Fairbanks really didn't like each other. Harry had guessed as much from the first day on, when he had seen Snape glowering at the new teacher during the opening feast. And during those lessons which both teachers had taught there had been a tension in the air, but so far Harry hadn't pair any real mind to it. After all, Snape had disliked all previous Defence teachers simply because they had gotten the job he always wanted. But this morning, there had been more than that tension between Snape and Fairbanks.

"Do you think that Snape and Fairbanks know each other?"

Ron and Hermione looked up from their meals.

"What makes you think that?", Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I just had the feeling earlier."

Hermione put down her fork. "Did they say anything?"

"No. It's just…well, Snape never liked another of our Defence teachers so far. Mostly because he wanted the job, or so I thought. But he seems to really hate Fairbanks."

"But he knew most of the other teachers from earlier, as well."

Harry thought about that for a moment. "Yes, but aside from Remus, there was no other teacher with whom he really had dealings in the past. And a lot of people know Moody and Lockhart because they're something like public figures. But earlier, when Snape and Fairbanks were shouting at each other, it was a lot more extreme than that. It was nearly as bad as when Snape and Sirius are in one room."

"Blimey", Ron mumbled. "That bad?"

"Yeah, somehow. And Fairbanks said something about having an eye on Snape, just as if he was only trying to prove that Snape was working for Voldemort."

"That's strange", Hermione agreed. "But Fairbanks was working for the Ministry before he came here. Maybe there's your explanation."

"Yes", Harry said with a frown, not entirely convinced. "Maybe there it is." He stared down onto his plate, silently contemplating. He'd get to the bottom of this, somehow.


	16. Hogsmeade

**Chapter 16 - Hogsmeade**

Sirius hated No. 12 Grimmauld Place. Every inch of it. He was absolutely sure of it because for the past hours he had been all over the place. He had been pacing up and down every corridor, had entered every room in search of something to occupy himself with, and for an hour he had even dared to enter the attic, the only part of the house that even the thorough cleansing of the house had not yet touched.

It had been a good plan, or so Sirius had thought at that time. But then he had discovered that the there were no hazardous pests to deal with up there, only tons of dust and cobwebs, and maybe some spiders and mice, plus the occasional age-old and empty pixy-nesting hanging from the ceiling. Nothing alive there worth hunting and getting rid of. That was the one thing Sirius had discovered.

The second discovery had been a stack of cardboard boxes in the far corner of the room. Curiously, Sirius had opened up the one on top to see what was inside. It had been a mistake, Sirius knew that now, but how could he have guessed that beforehand? Couldn't whoever put those boxes up there have labelled them?

At least this morning's trip upstairs had produced two important insights for Sirius. First of all, the attic was definitely clean and safe enough for the Order to use it for storage and to archive paperwork and files.

And secondly, he was not yet ready to deal with his brother's death.

True enough, Regulus had died many years ago, and sure Sirius had mourned his death. But back then it had been different times, and Sirius had forced most thoughts about his brother away quickly. Life had forced him to focus on the here and now.

Regulus had been a Death Eater, that was something Sirius had never come to terms with, not even when he had been called to identify Regulus' body and had stared at the Dark Mark on his little brother's arm for what had felt like hours. Sirius knew the basic facts about how he had died, but for all those years he had managed to avoid thinking about anything related to his brother. In truth, he was afraid to analyse his thoughts and feelings on Regulus and his death. Pushing it away had always seemed the healthier alternative. Coming upon boxes with his brother's old things in the attic had not been part of the plan.

So Sirius had resumed his pacing all over the house, to let off some steam. Ironically, pacing to let off some steam had brought him to the attic in the first place, and after climbing down the ladder he needed to let off even more tension through his pacing. It took a lot of self-control, but eventually Sirius managed to force the thoughts about Regulus into their safely locked box in the back of his mind again. It wasn't as if there was nothing else to worry about at the moment.

Full moon was not more than three days away, and still there was no sign of his friend nor any word of notice about when he would return. Nothing but the cryptic message Remus had left with Janus, the one that said he might not make it back before the next full moon. Sirius understood perfectly well why Remus had left that message with Janus and had not delivered it personally. Sirius would have ripped Remus a new one for even thinking something as stupid as that.

But Sirius didn't know where his friend was and he had no means of contacting him. So all that was left for him to do was to wait and hope that Remus would show up before moonrise, and if he didn't, Sirius would have to hope and pray that Remus had been able to spend the transformation somewhere safe, away from any human he might harm while he wasn't himself.

An in addition to those dark thoughts that were already clouding Sirius' mind without Voldemort interfering, there was also the Dark Lord's agenda to consider. There was still no trace of Emmeline Vance, and deep down inside Sirius felt certain that whatever had happened to her, they wouldn't see her alive again. Sirius had witnessed Order members get killed during the first war, and it was a sad realisation that it was still the same horrible feeling as it had been back then.

And not only Emmeline. Death Eaters were striking on a daily basis by now, but still it was different than it had been during the previous war all those years back. There were random attacks, true enough. Mostly attacks targeting muggles and the families of muggle-born wizards, true enough to Voldemort's traditional scheme of bait. Those attacks were random, what the Death Eaters called sport, entertainment to keep Voldemort's followers occupied and happy.

Those were not the attacks that worried Sirius. He was far more concerned about the quick and efficient attacks on members of the government and the Ministry. It had peaked in the attack on the Minister of Magic himself a couple of days ago. That was what really worried Sirius. The random attacks could neither be foreseen nor prevented, but what worried him was that even after the attack on himself and his wife, Fudge had not increased the security for the people in the important Ministry positions. Of course, Fudge himself was standing under improved protection since that night, but that only accounted for the Minister himself and nobody else. Of course the Ministry was short-handed as ever, but Sirius knew that Fudge hadn't cared about that when he had made the security arrangements.

After pacing up and down the house for what felt like the hundredth time, Sirius directed his steps towards the basement stairs. He needed some coffee now, to clear his head.

When he entered the kitchen, he found to his surprise that he was not the only one haunting No. 12 Grimmauld Place right now. Moody was sitting at the kitchen table, just about to take a swig from his hip-flask as Sirius entered the room. The other occupant of the kitchen was Kingsley. The tall Auror was standing at the counter, fixing himself a sandwich.

"If Molly finds you eating that without using a plate, she'll have your hide", Sirius said into Kingsley's direction as he pulled out a mug and filled it with coffee. Kingsley lifted the sandwich with a grin and took a huge bite.

"You know Sirius, this _is_ your house", he said after he had chewed and swallowed. "Which means that nobody should worry about what Molly might think about anything that happens in here."

Sirius grinned and took his cup to the table where he sat down in a chair opposite of Moody. "I hate this place, so actually I don't really care about what people do or don't in here. And the kitchen has never been the room I've felt most comfortable in, anyway, no matter where."

"So you let Molly take over", Kingsley said with a wide grin as he sat down next to Sirius, holding his sandwich with a plate still being suspiciously absent from the table.

"Nah, I'm chickening out. I'm glad that Molly is running the whole food supply for Order meetings, and also for Harry and the kids when they're here, and I don't particularly fancy fighting with her over every small thing that happens."

"Yes, that sounds like you're chickening out." Kingsley wolfed down the rest of his sandwich as Sirius turned to Moody.

"Anything new?"

The old Auror shrugged. "Depends on what you already know, I'd say."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Thanks for _that_ piece of wisdom, Mad Eye. Last I knew, Fudge's personal entourage now includes no less than four Aurors at all times?"

Moody's expression turned even more grim, if that was possible. "Don't mention that. It's not as if he even consulted me or anybody else on that matter, he simply orders. But I am the one who has to rearrange everything because I'm short-handed on men. And only yesterday he explicitly forbid me to replace Lupin for the time being, seeing that he didn't fire him but only suspended him. So don't get me started on Fudge. Pulling Lupin from active duty because he has a problem with him was the worst he could have done in this situation, but Fudge doesn't understand that."

Kingsley pulled his chair back slightly and turned towards Moody. "You have to admit that Lupin was overstepping his boundaries more than once. That Remus has vanished might have been the official reason why Fudge suspended Lupin, and not a legitimate one in my opinion, but if you ask me Lupin brought this up on himself. This suspension is only the consequence of all the non-sanctioned actions he pulled through over the years. Had Lupin been a little less secretive and not as openly averse to Fudge, he'd not be in this situation now."

Moody angrily shook his head. "This isn't about Lupin's situation right now. He'll get along, and I doubt that he'll have trouble keeping himself occupied. The problem is that by pulling him off all active investigations, Fudge only managed to weaken the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Right now we need Lupin, with all his contacts and his ability to look three steps ahead. And a good Minister of Magic would have known that and would have reprimanded Lupin, maybe even have kept a closer eye on him, but all that without taking him out entirely."

Kingsley didn't respond to that, instead he silently rolled his eyes and got up to fix himself another sandwich. "That's your opinion, Alastor. And it's no secret that you've always backed Lupin up whatever he was doing. I still think he brought this upon himself. But whatever, the dye is cast and arguing about it won't change a thing about it now. We're short-handed, we have to deal with it. Which is why I'll take this", he gestured towards the sandwich in his hands, "and go back to the Ministry, to try and unclutter my desk from all the work that's surely been piling up over the past half hour. I'll see the two of you later."

The sandwich in his hands, Kingsley went over towards the fireplace and flooed back to the Ministry. Sirius downed his last coffee and got up to refill the cup.

"He never liked Lupin", Moody remarked. Sirius grinned and returned to the table with his full coffee.

"Neither did I, Alastor. Still don't, to be honest."

"Yes, but you are not the one who thinks that you should be in his job."

Sirius frowned. He hadn't known that. "Kingsley thinks that he should be Deputy head of the DMLE? Since when?"

Moody shrugged and took another sip from his hip-flask. "He has been in the Department for longer than Lupin. And back when the position was open three years ago, he thought it would be filled according to seniority. Which would have probably happened, but Lupin had additional experience in France speaking for him. Fudge was against giving him the position, but he was the only one, and he doesn't have that much of a say in the DMLE where such decisions are concerned. So he was overruled."

Sirius grinned. "And how much influence did you have concerning that decision?"

Moody's scarred face pulled into a grin. "I was in retirement back then, don't forget that. But a couple of people might have asked for my opinion on that matter, and I gave it."

Sirius could figure the rest out on his own. Janus might be a lot of things, and Sirius would gladly sign most of the negative evaluations of his character, but he was good at his job. And he and Moody made a good team, admittedly.

Sirius checked his watch, then downed his coffee and got up. "I've got to go. I have an appointment to keep."

"You sure you don't need a bigger guard?"

Sirius buttoned up his cloak and turned towards Moody with a raised eyebrow. "Are you doubting my abilities?"

"Should I?"

Sirius grinned. "Constant vigilance, Mad Eye. I'll keep it in mind. I'll see you at the meeting tonight?"

"Sure."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year, and Harry, Ron and Hermione eagerly lined up in the Entrance Hall to get past Filch, who was checking the names of those who had been allowed by their parents and guardians to leave the castle against the faces who passed him.

"One should think that after so many years of pestering us, he'd simply know that we're allowed to go", Ron muttered to Harry as they moved slowly towards freedom.

"Wouldn't be half as much fun if he couldn't harass us", Harry replied, his mind elsewhere entirely. All morning long he had been checking up on the Marauder's Map, trying to figure out what Malfoy was doing. He had been worried that the Slytherin might use everybody else's absence to go back again to that strange Octagonal Chamber, and Harry was not willing to let him get away again this time. He needed to know what Malfoy was up to. But Malfoy had spent the morning in the Slytherin Common Room, not allowing Harry an insight as to whether he was planning to go to Hogsmeade or not. Hermione had frowned at what she by now called his "obsessive behaviour", and Ron had looked as if he couldn't quite believe that Harry would pass up on a Hogsmeade weekend to spy on Malfoy, but fortunately they had been spared further discussions. Twenty minutes ago, Malfoy had left the Slytherin Common Room and had gone into the Entrance Hall, finally convincing Harry to change his clothes and also get ready for a visit to town.

And now he stood here, his mind already straying towards Hogsmeade. He was looking forward to it, especially to finally getting to see what Fred and George's joke shop looked like. During the summer holiday there had been no occasion on which they cold have visited the shop in Diagon Alley. So not only Ron had been excited when the twins had written and told their younger brother and sister about their newest business opportunity – a branch of their shop right in Hogsmeade, open every time the students at Hogwarts had the chance to leave the castle and come into town. They had rented the building Zonko's had always been in, though before their letter Harry had not even been aware that Zonko's no longer existed. But seemingly, the proprietor had closed it up and left Hogsmeade to an unknown location, leaving a lot of people to wonder what could scare the owner of a joke-shop away. But something obviously had, and Fred and George had seized the opportunity to expand their thriving business. The rest of the year, they used the building for storage and owl-orders from Hogwarts students, and Harry felt a little gleeful as he thought about all the post owls arriving at Hogwarts, carrying packages full of things Filch would hate. He had the distinct feeling that this was going to become a lot of fun. Harry also urgently needed ink and a few new quills, and he also wanted to see whether he could find some of his Christmas presents already. And it would feel good to see something else than the castle for a while.

When they had finally gotten past Filch and his ominous muttering about times when students weren't allowed to leave the castle at all, and mindless little trouble-makers who only carried rain and mud all over the floor tiles for him to clean up, Harry had to keep his steps from becoming too hurried. All in good time, he told himself.

The students dispersed into small groups on their way to the village, and by the time Harry, Ron and Hermione reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade, they were alone. Harry was just about to turn and suggest to Ron and Hermione to go visit Fred and George first when a repeated barking interrupted him. Confused, Harry turned his head towards the source of the sound. As his eyes fell onto the huge black dog that was sitting on the doorstep of a house to their right, a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Sirius, what are you doing here?"

The dog got up and in one smooth movement suddenly it was gone, and Sirius was rising up into a straight posture, the grin on his face just as wide as Harry's.

"I heard something about this being a Hogsmeade weekend, and I thought I could talk you into drinking a butterbeer with me."

Hermione smiled, Ron immediately nodded, only Harry raised an eyebrow in doubt. "I'm still being tailed, am I not?"

Sirius shrugged uncomfortably and put an arm around Harry's shoulder, steering him off towards the main road and the Three Broomsticks. Ron and Hermione immediately followed.

"Yes, you are, whenever you leave the castle grounds. I'm telling you no secret with that. There are Aurors in Hogsmeade today to keep an eye out, and most of your teachers are here as well, but one condition for letting you go on Hogsmeade weekends was that somebody kept an eye on you. And I thought that if already someone had to follow you around, it could as well be me. Or would you rather I called up Moody, or Dung?"

Harry quickly shook his head and smiled. "No, it's all right. But we wanted to make a quick stop at Fred and George's joke shop before going for a drink."

Something in Sirius' eyes started to gleam dangerously at those words, and Harry noticed how his godfather's steps quickened.

"Ah yes, that store I've been planning to visit for a long time already. Molly said that the twins had opened a Hogsmeade branch. Come on then, you three. Off we go."

In the end, it was a hard feat to tear Sirius out of the shop again. They went to do their other shopping first since Sirius had obviously planned on spending quite a while in the twins' shop, but after a mere twenty minutes they finally entered the store. The place was crowded with students, Fred and George were busy overseeing the masses streaming into their shop, and Sirius all but acted like a child left in a sweet-shop overnight. While Harry and Ron each carefully chose some items they thought could come in handy, Sirius raced from one shelf to the next, and in the end Harry didn't even want to know what had ended up in the huge bag that George handed him. Both Sirius and the twins however were in extremely good spirits, and Harry didn't even want to know how many galleons his godfather had just left in the store.

"Headquarters needs some serious cheering up", he said as they made their way towards the Three Broomsticks.

"Do you really think it's a wise idea to plant practical jokes all over the place?", Hermione asked with a slightly doubtful voice.

Sirius laughed and shook his head. "No, probably not. But that's no reason not to do it. Most of the residents could do with some hearty laughs. Don't worry, I won't place Dungbombs in the pantry, but a chosen audience might appreciate what I've got in my little bag here."

The _little bag_ was a gigantic brown paper bag and it seemed to weigh a couple of pounds, but Harry refrained from saying anything. As long as Sirius didn't burn down headquarters, he thought his godfather would certainly know which prank to play on whom.

They entered the Three Broomsticks which was crowded with students and buzzing with conversation. A couple of people near the door stopped speaking as soon as they recognised Sirius, but Harry's godfather paid them no mind and soon they went back to their conversation. Sirius steered the four of them towards and empty table in the far off corner.

"Rosmerta seems to be busy, so I'll just get our drinks at the bar. What do you guys want?"

"Butterbeer", Harry said, and Hermione and Ron nodded their assent.

"Three Butterbeer, straight away."

While Sirius went over towards the bar, Harry noticed that Hermione was eyeing Sirius' bag nervously.

"What's wrong?"

Hermione looked up, surprised, and smiled half-heartedly. "It's just…well, I do believe that Sirius knows what he's doing, but don't you think that all the stuff he's got in there might cause disagreements at headquarters?"

Ron frowned. "What disagreements?"

"Well, I was just thinking. Sirius might appreciate the occasional prank, and so might some of the others, but what about those who are not as…humouristically inclined? Can you imagine what would happen if Moody got on the receiving end of one of those pranks?" She turned towards Ron. "Or your mother?"

Ron gulped. "To be honest, I don't want to imagine. Concerning practical jokes as well as Sirius, Mum is always a bit…touchy. I don't want to know what she'll do if faced with a combination of the two."

Harry thought that Ron was underestimating Mrs. Weasley's problem with Sirius a little, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

"They're both adults. I'm fairly sure that they won't go at each other's throats. Actually I'm more worried about Moody blowing up headquarters because Sirius snuck a Dungbomb into his coat."

Hermione didn't seem all that convinced, but at that moment Ron seemed to have an idea and interrupted her before she could say anything else on the matter of Sirius placing pranks at Grimmauld Place.

"Forget about that for a moment, 'Mione. I've just thought about something different. Why didn't we think of it before?"

Harry raised both eyebrows at his friend. "Think of what before? I am not a clairvoyant, in case you had forgotten."

"I was thinking about those runes Hermione couldn't translate. I mean, that Octagonal Chamber was on the Marauder's Map, so at least Sirius and Professor Lupin must know about it. Maybe they can help with translating the runes."

Hermione seemed to like the idea, but Harry immediately shook his head. "No. If they had known what that chamber was there for, it would be on the map. And I don't particularly fancy telling Sirius about following Malfoy around. I promised him to be careful around Malfoy, and he surely won't want to hear that I've been keeping tabs on him for the past days. Let's give it another week or two to find out on our own, and if we haven't gotten any farther by then, we can still ask one of them for help."

It was obvious that Hermione wanted to say something in response to that, but at that moment Sirius returned, balancing a tray with four bottles of Butterbeer in one hand. He put the tray down on the table and sat down on the remaining chair.

"There you go."

"Thank you, Sirius."

The four of them each grabbed a bottle and drank.

"So", Sirius said after he put down his bottle. "What's been going on at Hogwarts during the past weeks? Judging from the letters you've sent, I rather got the impression that you're close to dying of boredom."

"It's not that bad", Harry said. "It's just that for once there's nothing fishy going on. Some peace and rest, for a change."

Sirius grinned. "Oh, I could give you some advice on how to make life at Hogwarts more interesting."

"Yeah, if I had a wish for my mum to behead me, I even might take up on it", Ron grumbled. "Let's postpone that until after Christmas, when she has a couple of months to cool down before I have to face her again."

Sirius laughed at that, then he nodded. "You might be right, Ron. Especially since it's probably be my head she'd tear off if she can't get hold of yours. But something has to be going on, I've never heard of a school year at Hogwarts that was boring."

Harry shrugged. "Lessons, Quidditch, the usual. Snape is still his usual horrible self, and he's making duelling lessons a real pain in the ass."

A grim expression settled on Sirius' face. "Anything else happen besides that little episode when he tried to choke you?"

"No. That was the only time when he really stepped out of line, Sirius. He's just being obnoxious, more so than ever. And he just can't get off my case, he's always pairing me up with Malfoy, and Malfoy is doing his best to goad me. I think they're collaborating to get me in detention."

A slight frown had appeared on Sirius' forehead. "And, do you let yourself be goaded?"

"No", Harry said quickly, shutting Ron and Hermione up before they could tell anything to the contrary. He fought hard not to let Malfoy and Snape goad him into losing his temper anymore, Sirius didn't need to know about the times that the Slytherin had been successful. The vertical line between Sirius' eyebrows deepened, but he didn't say anything.

"And how is that new teacher?"

Ron and Hermione both nodded appreciatively, and Harry followed their example.

"Professor Fairbanks is good. I'm still not entirely convinced, seeing that so far all of our Defence teachers turned out to have some sort of dark secret, but so far there really is no reason to complain. He's good during lessons, he's fair, and he seems to detest Snape nearly as much as Snape detests him, though Fairbanks is better at hiding it. All in all only reasons to like him."

Sirius smiled conspiratorially. "Yes, Remus and I thought that Snape would have a lot of fun with Fairbanks teaching at Hogwarts."

"Then they _do_ know each other?", Hermione said. "Harry had suspected something like this, but nobody seemed to know anything about it. Was Fairbanks at school with you, too?"

Sirius frowned and thought for a moment. "He must have been, come to think of it. But he's a bit younger than we are, so if he ever went to school with us, we never paid any attention to him. Neither did Snape, I think."

"Then how come Snape detests Fairbanks so much?"

"Because Dante Fairbanks arrested him."

"What?" Harry didn't believe what he had just heard, Hermione gasped loudly and Ron sputtered Butterbeer all down his robes before he resolved into a half-coughing half-laughing fit.

"Pardon me?", he gasped between two wheezing breaths. "He arrested him?"

"Not so loud", Sirius warned. "I don't want the whole school to know, so you have to keep it amongst yourselves. I think neither Snape nor Fairbanks would be very happy if this started to spread all around the school."

"All right, all right, but what happened? How on earth did that happen?"

Sirius shrugged at Harry. "Not much of a story, I'm afraid. At least none that I'd know to tell. Didn't Fairbanks tell you that he worked for the Ministry before he came to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, he said he worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Sirius nodded. "Yes. It must have been…oh, don't ask me for the year it happened. But it was before you were born, Harry, about a year or so before that. Fairbanks was one of the junior Aurors, just straight out of training. Story is that he and his unit were out on a mission that had nothing whatsoever to do with chasing Death Eaters, and during whatever it was they were doing Fairbanks managed to arrest Snape on a minor charge."

"What minor charge?"

"I can't recall. But it was something really unimportant compared to being caught as a Death Eater. Probably something like endangering the broom traffic, unauthorised connection of a fireplace to the floo-network, something that was hardly criminal enough to require an Auror to clear it up. Anyway, Fairbanks, all eager and new in the job, arrested Snape and dragged him to the Ministry. In the interrogation room while filling out the documents, Fairbanks caught a glimpse of the mark on Snape's forearm. Problem was, he was a bit over-eager, performed an illegal body-search, didn't allow Snape to call in a lawyer, so the charges against Snape were dropped in the end because the evidence was gathered illegally, and the Ministry had to let him go again. At that time, arresting Death Eaters was a priority for all Aurors, and normally the Ministry didn't much care for the questions as to how the Death Eaters were arrested, but in that case things went differently.

By the time Snape was presented to the other Aurors, the Mark on his arm had mysteriously vanished, and when they examined him it showed that confounding-spells had been used on him. Fairbanks had to let Snape go because it was his word standing against Snape's, there was no proof of anything, and even the suspicion that Fairbanks had been trying to get a confession out of Snape where none was to get.

It wasn't a huge setback for Fairbanks' career, but it wasn't the nicest situation to find himself in. I think Snape was then just beginning to spy for the Order, so his arrest would have been a real setback for the resistance. Most probably Albus involved himself behind Fairbanks' back, he's always had his means to know where Snape was and what he was doing, but I don't know for sure. As I said, I only know the basic story, not the details. Fairbanks didn't want to let go, he didn't understand why Snape could walk free just because of some protocol breach on his part when he firmly believed that Snape was connected to the Death Eaters, so he started his personal vendetta to arrest Snape again, formally correct this time. It didn't work out, but he was at Snape's heel until the war ended, which drove our good old Severus pretty mad."

Sirius shrugged as if there was nothing really interesting to the story and took a sip of his butterbeer, while Harry was inwardly relishing the story he had just been told and Ron was grinning as broadly as Harry had ever seen him. Only Hermione seemed thoughtful.

"So Snape detests Fairbanks because he arrested him and wouldn't let go of it, but why does Fairbanks detest Snape so much?"

"Well, probably because he knows Snape was a Death Eater but he was never able to catch him. After that first arrest, Dumbledore always had a hand over Snape, kept him from getting into too much trouble with the Ministry. But still Snape had to keep a very low profile. And now they have to meet on a daily basis, they even have to work together. I imagine it's not really fun for either of them."

"But surely Fairbanks must have been told by now what Snape's real role in all that was?"

Again, Sirius only shrugged. "Sure. But if you've grown into a war ridden world and have learned to detest Death Eaters and what they stand for, it's hard to let go of it. Besides, Snape didn't become a Death Eater just so that he could spy for Dumbledore. Never mind his role today, when he started all this there was conviction behind it. I think that's what Fairbanks has got a problem with."

Hermione nodded. "He doesn't trust Snape."

"Only another reason to like him all the more", Harry grumbled.

Sirius gave a short bark of laughter. "It's good to hear that some things never change. But seriously, try to keep out of Snape's way, that's probably for the best."

Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah, it's just not always easy. But at least Fairbanks is still there during most of the duelling lessons. Oh, by the way, I've got a compliment from him to pass on."

Sirius' face drew into a frown. "A compliment? From Fairbanks? I hardly know the man, can't even recall ever meeting him."

"Well, he doesn't know it's to you. You remember the Defence Club we had last year?"

Sirius grinned. "How could I have forgotten? Your first meeting in the Hog's Head is still legendary, Dung recalls it at least twice a month. What about it?"

"Well, at first I thought with all those additional Defence lessons it would be enough practice we got this year, but then so many people asked if we'd continue with the extra lessons. So we've made the Defence Club official. McGonagall suggested that we ask Fairbanks to mentor the club, and when I went to ask him I showed him the books Remus and you gave me for Christmas last year. He was pretty impressed, and said whoever gave them to me had to know quite a lot about defensive magic."

Sirius smiled. "Well, I'll pass along the compliment. It was my idea to get you some good books on Defence, but it was Remus who actually chose them."

A smile stole across Harry's face. This only proved once more to him that Remus was a true expert on Defence against the Dark Arts, as he had proven before during the one year that he had taught at Hogwarts. So far, none of his other teachers had been able to best him at that, not even Fairbanks. Fairbanks was good, no doubt about it, but given the choice Harry would have preferred to have Remus back at Hogwarts any time.

"Yes, you do that. What is Remus up to, anyway? Why didn't you bring him along?"

Sirius shrugged, and while he did his best to appear relaxed about it, his face hardened and a strange expression showed in his eyes.

"Did anything happen?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, nothing happened."

"Then why don't you tell us where Remus is?"

Sirius drained his butterbeer, his eyes straying around the room.

"You won't stop pestering me until I tell you, will you?"

Harry shook his head firmly. "No, I won't."

Sirius looked around the bar again, then checked his watch. "Not in here, it's too crowded. It's one thing to tell you old stories about your teachers, it's something else to tell you something that's confidential. How about I walk you back to the castle?"

Harry nodded immediately. "Okay." He turned towards Ron and Hermione. "If it's all right with you."  
Ron immediately nodded and made move to get up, but Hermione non-too-inconspicuously stepped on his foot and pulled him down by his arm. "You two just go ahead, we'll stay for another drink and then I still wanted to look for a new quill. You can tell us what you talked about later."

Harry frowned but Hermione nodded firmly and made a shooing gesture with her hands. "Just go, we'll see each other later. Bye Sirius, and thanks for the butterbeer."  
Ron nodded numbly, still trying to catch up with what Hermione was doing. "Yeah, thanks. Bye."  
"All right, bye you two. You're coming, Harry?"

Harry nodded and with a grateful smile at Hermione followed Sirius out of the pub. Outside, an icy wind was blowing and the two quickly buttoned up their coats and wrapped their scarves tightly around their necks.

"Do you think Ron will understand what Hermione was doing?"

Sirius shrugged and directed them up the main road towards Hogwarts. "She'll probably explain it to him. I think it was nice of her that she was trying to give us some moments alone."

They walked in silence for a few moments, until a group of excited third years had turned left into the Quill-shop and they were alone.

"What is bothering you so much?"

Sirius turned and looked at Harry. "Why do you think that something is bothering me?"

Harry shrugged. "Earlier, when I was asking what Remus was doing, you seemed pretty worried."  
Sirius sighed. "Probably because I _am_ worried."

"So he's doing something dangerous for the Order."

"Right now, everything the Order is doing is dangerous."

"But Remus is doing something that's more risky than usual."

Sirius shrugged at his godson's conclusion. "He would probably disagree, but I'd say you're right. During the last war, Voldemort recruited werewolves. He promised them a better life under his reign, and it's no small wonder that many followed him, seeing how our society treats them. For a long while, we had the suspicion that he would try to recruit werewolves again."

"Yes, there was something on it in the _Daily Prophet_."

Sirius nodded. "He threatened to set werewolves loose if Fudge didn't stand down. And we don't believe that it was an empty threat."  
And suddenly, Harry understood. "And now Remus is trying to find out what Voldemort is planning."

"Yes. I agree that he probably is the only one in the Order who can find anything out that way, but that doesn't mean that it's any less dangerous for him. He is a werewolf who lived amongst humans for all his life, unlike many of those who are bound to follow Voldemort's call, and they will know it. They won't see him as one of theirs and that is what is dangerous for him."

Harry looked at Sirius from the corner of his eyes. "When will he be back?"

"I don't know. Full moon is in a couple of days, and knowing Remus he would do anything to avoid spending it in company of other werewolves, especially if they're on the loose. But he left a cryptic message with his brother, saying that he'll maybe not be back until then. That has me worried, though maybe not as much as something else."

"What?"

"Fenrir Greyback."

"Who?"

Sirius sighed. "Fenrir Greyback. A Death Eater, one of the most vicious followers Voldemort has under his command. He is supposed to be in charge of recruiting the werewolves."  
"And?"

Sirius was silent for a moment, as if contemplating whether to tell something or not. But then he sighed. "And he is the werewolf who bit Remus."

Harry didn't know what to say, so he remained silent and let Sirius' words roll through his head again. Sirius probably misinterpreted the silence, or maybe he simply needed to talk things off his chest, because he continued to talk.

"I'm just worried that Remus will load more onto his shoulders than he's capable of bearing. I don't know whether he'll be able to keep truly calm and reasonable when Greyback's around."

"Does this Greyback remember that he bit Remus all those years ago?"

Sirius shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. If everything I've heard about Greyback over the past weeks is right, he'd need a really good memory to remember all his victims. He was a menace during the past war, and while he kept a low profile ever since, I doubt that he locked himself up during full moon nights." He shrugged again and Harry slowed his steps slightly so that he could look at his godfather.

"But wouldn't you know if he was in danger, or if something happened to him? Or couldn't you try to find out if he was all right through your bond somehow?"

Sirius thought for a moment. "To be honest, I don't know. I've been reading up on blood bonds a little, but I don't think you can use the bond as some sort of mental phone-line to check up on the other. Maybe I'd feel it if something happened to him, but I just don't know. It was one thing to read up some spells and use our blood to make that pendant for you, but that was something different. I never really felt any effects from the bond."

"But Remus did, when you were behind the veil."

"That's what I meant when I said that maybe I'd notice if something grave happened to him. But I haven't yet felt anything like it. In fact, the only time that I felt the bond at all was when Remus brought me back."

"You remember that?"

Harry couldn't quite explain it, but the thought that Sirius remembered Remus' attempt to bring him back but had no recollection whatsoever of Harry trying to do the same sent a painful sting through his chest. Sirius slowly shook his head in a not-quite gesture, and Harry noticed that he had grown rather pale.

"I remember hearing his voice. It's difficult to explain. I don't really remember being in the void, there's nothing substantial that I could pinpoint in my memory. But I remember that it was horrible, fare more horrible than Azkaban. While in prison, I could always change into Padfoot and escape the Dementors and what they were doing. I couldn't do that in the void, I had no body which I could transform to protect my mind. But I told myself that I was doing it. That's about the only thing I clearly remember from the time after I fell through the veil. _I changed into Padfoot. They're searching for Sirius, but they cannot hurt Padfoot. I changed into Padfoot, and now I'm safe._ I kept on repeating that in my mind, over and over again, until I forgot that it wasn't true. And then I heard Remus' voice. I mean, I had heard it before, the void does horrible things to what's in your mind and memory, but this time it was different. This time, Remus' voice sounded friendly, reassuring. He told me that everything was all right, that he would bring me back, that he'd make sure that nothing would harm me. And I remember that he told me that you needed me to come back. I don't know how long it took, whether time even played a role in all this, but finally I chose to believe him. That's the only time I felt the bond working, and at that time I didn't even know that the bond existed. So I really don't know whether I'd notice if Remus was in danger."  
Harry had hoped for a little more assurance, but he preferred his godfather's honesty over false platitudes.

"You'll let me know when Remus is safely back?"

Sirius nodded. "Of course." He smiled at Harry. "And probably I'm really worrying without a proper reason. Remus knows what is at stake, he is clever and knows how to defend himself should he need to. Janus also knows what Remus is doing right now, and while I don't particularly like him, he has a lot of contacts and could indeed prove helpful should Remus get into any kind of trouble. I'm sure he'll be all right."

Harry nodded, hoping that Sirius was right and Remus would truly be all right. But mentioning Remus' brother had brought another thought to his mind again.

"Now that you mention Remus' brother, there was something about him in the _Daily Prophet_ a couple of days back. Didn't it say that he was fired?"

"Suspended, yes."

"How did that happen?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's a long story. The problem is, none of the reasons that might explain his suspension are reasons I want to contemplate. It seems that somebody alerted Fudge to the fact that one of his highest-ranking Aurors was the brother of a werewolf who had vanished just as Voldemort started rounding them up. That means for one that the Ministry is extremely interested in talking to Remus and are wondering why they can't find him, and on the other hand Fudge to suspicious and used that as an excuse to get rid of somebody he never really wanted to have in his Ministry in the first place. Janus promised to take care that Remus won't be arrested, though, so I guess that while he's not working at the moment, he can still call in a couple of favours. Hopefully it all works out. To be honest with you, the whole thing worries me."

Harry frowned. "Do you think they could put Remus into prison?"

Sirius breathed a deep sigh. "I wouldn't put it past them. Fortunately Azkaban is out of the question at the moment, but the Ministry has other facilities. What worries me more though is the question who alerted Fudge to Remus' absence. Janus thinks that it's somebody in the Order."

"You think there's a Death Eater in the Order?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's possible, but it doesn't necessarily need to be a Death Eater. But of course such thoughts arouse suspicion, and if there is somebody in the Order who has his own agenda, it's a worrisome development. But that just means that with whatever we do, we have to be extremely careful."

They continued walking around in silence for a few moments, until Sirius forcefully changed the topic.

"You are still carrying your two-way mirror with you wherever you go, aren't you?"

There was something in Sirius' voice that made Harry frown, and he quickly answered. "Yeah, sure."  
Sirius nodded. "Strange, seeing that I was trying to call you with it earlier and ended up talking to a very frightened looking boy named Neville, who seemed extremely surprised to hear the mirror on your bedside table starting to talk all of a sudden."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks and started patting down the pockets of his cloak. Sirius stopped a few feet away and watched him with a smile. "It won't just materialise in your cloak, you know? It's definitely lying in your dormitory, which means that you're not carrying it with you _all _the time, obviously."

Harry felt his face flush as he stammered to find an answer. The first time he left Hogwarts grounds, and he forgot to take the mirror with him. So far, he had always carried it in a pocket of his robes, and now he had broken his promise to Sirius to always carry that mirror around wherever he went.

"I'm sorry, I must have forgotten it when I dressed earlier. I normally carry it around with me all the time."  
"It's all right, Harry. Just put it back into your pocket as soon as you're back. I know that it's a nuisance, but I need to know that I can contact you at any time."

Harry nodded, but as Sirius gave him an impish knowing grin he suddenly realised that his godfather thought him to be telling fibs about always carrying the mirror around. Sirius started to walk again, but Harry remained rooted in place until Sirius stopped and turned towards him again.

"What is it?"

"Sirius, I was telling the truth. I've always carried the mirror around with me, ever since I left Grimmauld Place in September. I've had it in the pocket of my robes, but when I changed clothes for the trip to Hogsmeade I must have forgotten to put it into my cloak. It's been the first time that I didn't have it with me."

The vertical line of concern had reappeared on Sirius' forehead and he made a few steps closer to his godson.

"All right."

"I'm not lying to you. I've always had the mirror with me."

Sirius nodded. "Okay."

"You have to believe me."

The frown on Sirius' forehead deepened and he tried to put a hand on Harry's shoulder, but the teenager shrugged him off. "I do believe you," Sirius said, his voice layered with some concern.  
"You didn't believe me when I first told you that I always carried the mirror around. But I'm not fibbing you, and I'm not lying to you."

Sirius looked at Harry for a few seconds, then he nodded again. "All right. I admit that I didn't quite believe you at first, but you seem pretty serious about it. I believe you."

"I just don't want you to think that I'd lie to you."

Sirius grinned. "Harry, everybody resorts to some degree of fibbing on occasion. Had it been a really serious situation and I had suspected you of lying, I'd have told you, and I'd have gotten the truth out of you. And I'm sure that you wouldn't lie to me about something important."

Harry shook his head. "I won't fib around with the truth just to make me look better, and I wouldn't lie to you. No matter about what. Period."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "All right, I believe you. But why are you so fierce about this all of a sudden?"

Harry turned away. "You wouldn't understand."  
"Harry, try to give me some credit here. How can you know whether I'd understand your reasons or not?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the next, then he slowly started walking again. Sirius fell into step beside him.

"Harry?"

"The Dursleys never listened to me, no matter whether I was telling the truth or not. They always assumed that I was lying, no matter what I did. They just didn't listen. The same with Mrs. Weasley, though the other way around. She's always treating me as if I could do no wrong, and she never really listens to me no matter what trouble Ron and I have gotten ourselves into, because that's how she wants to see me. And here at school, over the past years it happened often enough that people didn't believe me though I was telling the truth. In fact the only time I can remember that others believed me I turned out to be wrong and you ended up dead. I just need to know that you will believe me, no matter what. And for that you have to believe me that I wouldn't lie to you."

Sirius watched Harry for a few long, silent moments, then he nodded again. "I understand. And I believe you."

Harry sighed. "Good."

They had nearly reached the gates now, and Harry slowed his steps to draw out the time he could spend with Sirius. "Sorry, I didn't want to ruin the mood."

Sirius shrugged and grinned lopsidedly at Harry. "Don't you worry about anything. I'll walk you back into the castle, if it's all right with you."  
"Sure. By the way, there's something I wanted to ask you, I only forgot."

"Shoot ahead, what is it?"

"How do you apparate?"

"Pardon? I thought you had lessons for apparating? You didn't write anything about them being cancelled."

Harry sighed deeply. "They weren't. We've had two lessons so far. But that Ministry instructor makes it sound as if there was nothing more easy in the entire world than vanishing and re-materialising. And what kind of lesson is standing in front of a hoop for an entire hour, anyway? _Destination, Determination, Distillation,_ or whatever it was, it's nonsense. It doesn't help me just one bit to understand how I'm supposed to manage apparating.All I can do is stare at that stupid hoop and hope for something to happen, but nothing ever does."

Sirius threw back his head and gave a short bark of laughter. Harry turned and glared at him.

"I don't think this is particularly funny, Sirius."

"No, it probably isn't. But rest assured that you're not the first one to have those problems, and you certainly won't be the last. I'm only afraid that there is no real good way to help you, at least not for me. Remus would probably know a way to make things a bit more understandable, but for now we'll have to make do without him. Have you ever apparated before?"

Harry shook his head. "No. We've only had two lessons so far, though."

"No, I meant whether somebody has ever taken you along for the ride? Side-along apparition?"

Harry frowned. "No. I didn't even know that was possible."

"It is. All right, if you still have problems apparating come Christmas, I'm going to apparate you with me a few times. Once you know the feel of it, it might be easier for you to imagine doing it on your own. And a crucial part of apparating is that you're simply convinced that it'll work just like that. Concentrate on your destination, turn around, appear at your destination. You have to be convinced that there's nothing more to it, and that you can do it. It might be a lot easier if you knew what exactly it was that you were trying, and what it feels like. If Remus has any other good ideas once he comes back, I'll let you know. Apparating is one of the things of which, once you have mastered them, simply seems impossible to imagine that there wasn't a time when you couldn't do it. But don't you worry yourself too much about it, you still have until July to figure out how it's going to work."

"At least I haven't splinched myself yet."

"And believe me, you don't ever want to. It isn't exactly the best feeling in the world. I once tried to apparate after a few drinks too many and ended up leaving a leg behind in London while the rest of me ended up in Edinburgh. Took your father about half an hour to figure out how to put me together again. It's a bit disconcerting to realise that some body parts are a couple of hundred miles away from the rest. And it does hurt quite a bit."

A smile showed on Harry's face, and they walked the remaining distance towards the castle door in silence. On top of the stairs Harry turned towards his godfather. "Thanks for coming over. And for bringing me back to the castle and, well, you know, for listening."

Sirius smiled and pulled Harry close for a moment. "No problem. Call me if there is anything you need, and I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything from Remus."

"I will. Bye Sirius. Take care."  
Sirius grinned, and as Harry turned around and pulled open the doors, Sirius walked back towards the Hogwarts gates.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

_**A/N:** I've actually given up commenting on reviews here, seeing that this can just as easily be done outside of the actual story pages, but _bored college student_ didn't give me much choice in that matter, and that review demanded to be answered ;-) Though logging in on makes the answering easier. Or leaving a message in my yahoo-group-thingie._

_But I am in a slightly whacky mood right now, so I just thought this was the right time and place for a slightly more personal note._

_I love Snape as well, thanks that you like my portrayal of him. I hope there will be more Snape as the story progresses. I just love playing around with the adult characters of HP. To be honest, I actually have more problems getting into the mindset of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts, and that writing the Order scenes is often far more easy for me than writing the Hogwarts scenes._

_I wouldn't give me too much praise about the juggling of angles yet, not until that thing is finished. On more than one occasion I've realised that some angles have slipped my mind completely. But I try to keep up with all of them._

_But now for the important part of this answer: your questions. I can't answer them all, but I can try to shed some light on some things._

_I'm not sure that Sirius has entirely recovered yet. He's just pushing unpleasant things in the background for as long as there is something else to focus on. And I wouldn't say that he ever **needed** to grow up. He might be a prankster (which this chapter should have proven), but I'd say life pretty much forced him to grow up over the past years. No matter what Molly says. And I don't really agree with a lot of Sirius' portrayal in HP5. Hence the confusing Harry and James thing. I had one scene in MH1 where I had Remus try to explain that confusing is not the right word for what's going on with Sirius' view on Harry (it's the chapter about Harry's birthday party). That's the explanation I've always stuck to, because frankly I want Sirius to care about Harry because he's Harry, and not for some other reason._

_About the hugging – well, nearly dying and seeing how badly _**that**_affected his godson might have done that. Besides, that kid definitely needs a whole lot of hugs._

_Remus considered burning down Grimmauld Place ;-) But we might see a change of scenery soon. For now, it's still standing because it's convenient._

_Remus does have that lonely wolf quality about him, and in part that's his own doing. You'll see as the story progresses. There are enough people around who care about him, often it's him who doesn't let them in._

_No, Harry will never be good at getting a clue before things are shoved right in front of him. That's just him. But he'll improve on the pack mentality._

_Molly will – unfortunately – stay Molly, though the idea of Sirius bringing up Percy has a certain appeal. I might just work that one in. If I do, you'll get the credit for the idea._

_As far as Percy is concerned, you will have to wait for a little longer, but then you will get to see quite a bit of him. But only at the end of the story, unfortunately, in case you were longing for it. But let's just say that he wasn't idle in the meantime, either._

_Tonks won't realise that Remus is gay. Because he isn't. At least not here. You know that I'm not avert to pairing him up with Sirius, I wrote a story about that, but here he is as straight as they come. Because that also suits him, and in this setting it suits him better than the gay variant. Besides, while I will always remain a Sirius/Remus shipper, I also kind of like the idea of Remus and Tonks together._

_So Remus is not the gay one here. Not that it will play any role whatsoever in this story, but there is another character I hold in the strong suspicion to be gay, though he hasn't directly come out to me yet. But at least he has made it clear enough that in this trilogy I'd better not write him having a wife and kids. He can be pretty scary when he's threatening, so I complied to his wishes ;-)_

_And now that everybody thinks I have lost the last shred of my sanity, I stop this rant and leave it at that._


	17. Suspicions Deepened

**Chapter 17 – Suspicions Deepened**

The kitchen at No. 12, Grimmauld Place was crowded. Over the past weeks there had always been the occasional occupant at headquarters, other than Sirius of course, and in between shifts and meetings Order members had met up here to exchange news and coordinate plans, but this was the first big meeting since the start of the new school year at Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore had been reluctant for all teachers who were Order members to attend this meeting, and so it had been agreed that Professor McGonagall and Hagrid would remain at the castle for the night while Dumbledore and Snape had come to attend the meeting. And they were the only ones that night who were able to bring good news. The wards and magical boundaries around Hogwarts castle and ground had been inconspicuously checked and reinforced over the past weeks, and all teachers had done their best to tie their own magic to the ancient spells and charms that protected the castle since the days of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff themselves.

Hogwarts was now as safe as it had not been in years. Nobody could enter the grounds or the castle without having to pass several wards. All secret passages in and out of the castle had either been blocked or warded up. Anybody who had no business being at Hogwarts could not enter the castle unnoticed, and within the castle itself there were other new wards in place now, unbeknownst to the students, which were set to enforce the security around the four houses and the classrooms.

Much to Severus Snape's chagrin, those wards would not prevent any student from nightly wanderings as he had hoped they would. Even more to the Potions master's disadvantage there were now parts of the castle he himself could not pass without alerting Dumbledore himself to his doing so. After all, there was a downside to warding the castle against bearers of the Dark Mark, and that downside was solely to the disadvantage of Hogwarts' resident Death Eater. Severus Snape knew where the marks that were triggered by the Dark Mark were located, and he knew how to try and evade them in his daily routines. It would be impossible for anybody entering the castle to evade them, and for Snape it was a nuisance to always take the longer ways to evade the wards on his daily routines. But there was nothing he could do about those wards now, not after Dumbledore hat set his mind on putting them in the castle. As often with Albus Dumbledore's decisions, there was no choice for him but to try and live with them.

But the update on the safety of Hogwarts was the only piece of good news that evening, and as most Order members present didn't have any children at Hogwarts, it didn't help cheering the mood in the gloomy basement kitchen any.

Sirius was sitting silently at the kitchen table, absently toying with a fork, while he listened to Kingsley reporting the newest bits and pieces of information from the Ministry, or as he had silently come to call it, "The Madhouse". Not that what Kingsley had to say was anything new to Sirius, but summed up like this it sounded grim. The daily Death Eater attacks hadn't stopped, on the contrary they seemed to have increased. One formerly closed ward at St. Mungo's had been reopened to accommodate all the injured witches and wizards brought there on a daily basis. The Death Eaters weren't trying to hide anymore like they had still done during the summer. Of course they still didn't strike during daylight, they still sought the cover of darkness whenever possible, lulling their victims into a false sense of security before striking at them at night, while they were sleeping in their beds. But they no longer bothered to hide that they were striking. It seemed that whatever Voldemort had been planning, his time of hiding out was over.

Which also bore the problem that more and more muggles were witnesses to the Death Eaters' deeds. The Ministry's Obliviators were already overworked, and by now were called out to wipe and alter the memories of unsuspecting muggles who had witnessed the worst of what wizards were capable of.

But aside from those attacks there were the ones that worried Sirius far more, and while Kingsley was still talking Sirius kept his eyes focussed on Mad Eye Moody. He knew the old Auror well enough to know that concerning this particular point, Moody shared his worry. The attack on Minister Fudge had been a peak of attacks on high ranking Ministry officials over the past weeks.

Fifteen members of the Wizengamot had been attacked during the past two weeks alone, twelve of them killed. All of the guards at Azkaban had been killed when the Death Eaters had taken the prison, and the count of wizards and witches working in crucial positions at the Ministry who had been target of a Death Eater attack lately was standing at a sad 47, with 39 of them killed and five more hurt so badly that some of the damage war irreversible. Latest in that line was Aaron McKinley, the former Auror who now stood as head in charge of the Department within the DMLE that oversaw the Ministry prisons. McKinley had been killed the previous evening when he came home from work. Kingsley and Moody had been working that scene all morning, but nothing they had found had proven any insight into the whereabouts of Voldemort or had brought them any closer to stopping what was going on.

And Sirius was convinced that so far there hadn't been any attack on Moody because the old Auror had warded up his house to the limit of what magic could provide. He wasn't so sure about Janus, who even after his suspension should still be on top of Voldemort's hit-list, but he was fairly sure that Remus' older brother had made enough enemies over the years to have taken protective measures in case somebody came back to take revenge.

Not everybody in the DMLE had been so lucky, though, and Aurors took attacks on their own more serious than anything else. Sirius was sure that it would only be a matter of time until somebody tried to take out Moody, Lupin, or somebody else high up in the department.

Still no trace of Emmeline Vance.

Sirius tore himself out of those silent musings when Kingsley stopped speaking and sat back down. Dumbledore turned towards Moody.

"Is there anything you want to add, Alastor?"

Moody remained seated as his one real eye turned towards Dumbledore while the magical one remained fixed on something on the upper floor.

"Well, the good news is that we don't need to worry about the safety of our Minister anymore. As of yesterday evening, Fudge withdrew four Aurors from Lupin's squad for his personal guard. Spalding was pissed as hell that he's supposed to be babysitting the Minister, but we all know Fudge and he wouldn't be deterred from his plan. So we're four more Aurors short. Besides that nothing." He shrugged awkwardly. "There have been some arrests during the past days, but those Death Eaters who were stupid enough to get caught were also too stupid than to be entrusted with anything that could be important to us. So far the interrogations haven't come up with anything."

Dumbledore thoughtfully stroked his beard. "Anything new from one of your contacts?"

Moody shook his head. "No, nothing useful. I couldn't tell you about Russia though, those were Lupin's contacts."

"Just bloody great", Kingsley sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Our knowledge of what is going on in one of You-Know-Who's favourite lairs is depending on Lupin who by now no longer is on active duty."

"Don't get your pants in a knot, Shacklebolt", Moody all but snarled. "Lupin is suspended, not dead. If he had heard anything of interest, he'd have let me know."

"If you ask me, you're putting too much trust in Lupin. He never does anything if he doesn't get something out of it in return."

Sirius had to bite back a laugh. Somebody accusing Moody of being too trusting was a new one. He hadn't thought he'd ever hear that.

"Lupin knows what is at stake here, he will do what he has to. We all know of your personal aversions against him, but in all honesty I think you're barking up the wrong tree."

Kingsley snorted. "Right, you of all people should say that. Aren't you the one who is constantly preaching not to implicitly trust anybody? Since when is Lupin excluded from that list? Or do you know what he is up to in his spare time?"

"Gentlemen…" Dumbledore tried to interrupt, but it was as if Kingsley hadn't heard him.

"I've never hidden that unlike most others I was no member of Janus Lupin's fan club. And now that I voice my concern, you want to brush it aside just because I don't like him? That's classic, Moody, really. But you as well as I know that there seems to have been a constant leak in information over the past weeks and months, and I think it's time we finally tried to find out who in Merlin's name is ratting us out to the Death Eaters."

A grin started to spread on Moody's face. "And you think that leak could be Janus Lupin? _That's_ classic. But if it comforts you any, I tend to practice what I preach, Kingsley. I have an eye on everybody who is working for me, and that includes Janus Lupin as much as it includes you."

Kingsley angrily drew breath as if to say something, but then he shook his head and waved his hand in an attempt to signal that the conversation was over for him. Dumbledore turned back from watching the two Aurors and addressed the rest of the assembled Order members. But Sirius wasn't listening. He was watching Moody with a frown. Part of what Kingsley had said was true. Moody was showing an absolutely uncharacteristic degree of trust in Remus' brother.

As if knowing that he was being watched, Moody swivelled both of his eyes into Sirius' direction. Sirius had long ago learned not to flinch under the old Auror's gaze, so he held it for a full thirty seconds before Dumbledore clearing his throat forced the two of them to focus their minds on the present meeting again. There hadn't been any words spoken, but something in Moody's gaze had convinced Sirius of one thing: no matter what he personally thought of Janus Lupin, the trust Moody placed in Janus was based on solid facts. He didn't know what it was, whether the old Auror held some knowledge about Janus that nobody else knew about or whether it was anything else, but for Moody it was enough. Most probably he had about fifty methods to assure himself at each meeting that he was not facing an impostor, but bar that initial barrier that everyone had to overcome with Alastor Moody, Janus Lupin for some reason held the older man's trust.

One day, Sirius vowed to himself, he'd find out why Moody seemed to trust Janus so explicitly. But for now there were more pressing matters to consider.

"Any word from Remus?"

There it was, like a blow to the stomach, the question Sirius had been dreading. He looked up, trying to find out who had asked, but while the words were ringing in his ears, he could not make out the voice. It hadn't been Dumbledore, and neither had it been Snape, but other than that, Sirius could not tell.

All he could tell was that most people in the room were looking expectantly at him. Those few that weren't were looking at Dumbledore, but still Sirius felt every single stare shuddering down his spine. He cleared his throat.

"Not so far, no."

He most certainly wouldn't tell anybody else about the message Remus had left with his brother, the message that he might not make it back before the next full moon. Dumbledore knew about it, that was enough. He caught Snape's sneer, and for a moment he wondered whether the headmaster had told Snape about it as well. Not that he could do anything about it, but the thought didn't sit well with him.

Dung scratched his head beneath his dishevelled hair. "Isn't full moon up?"

Snape's sneer widened, and Sirius sighed. "Tomorrow."

"So if Lupin isn't back by then, not only was this whole undercover mission merely for his personal entertainment, but there will also be absolutely no time to prepare for whatever the Dark Lord is planning with the werewolves." Snape sneered. "Such a pity, but at least Lupin probably enjoyed himself."

"Look who's talking", Sirius snarled without thinking. "Why don't you try and use your little meetings with Voldemort's finest to find out that information yourself? You aren't a spy for your personal pleasure, either!"

Snape drew breath to reply, his dark eyes glaring dangerously at Sirius and his hands balled to fists at his side, but before he could say something Dumbledore interrupted.

"Gentlemen, please."

Much to Sirius' surprise, Snape let out the breath he had drawn to reply and leaned back in his chair, though he was still glaring at Sirius darkly.

"There is no need to go at each other's throat. Remus still has time to come back before anything happens tomorrow, and whatever will happen is entirely out of our hands until Remus in fact does come back. Tomorrow evening is late enough to start worrying. For now, I believe we still have some duty and patrol schedules to discuss."

Dumbledore pulled out some parchments and a quill, and a few moments later the people in the room were entirely engrossed in the patrol rotas for Hogsmeade, Hogwarts and the Ministry. Sirius tried to follow, but couldn't help that his thoughts kept on drifting off to Remus and the mere twenty-four hours he still had to come back before moonrise.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Harry had seriously underestimated the workload of this school year when he had agreed to continue with the DA. There had been two meetings so far; the last one he had had to cancel on short notice due to the apparition lessons that had been added to his already over-busy schedule. So far, there had been little time to do anything else but to rehearse the spells they had already covered the previous year. But after the last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, Fairbanks had kept him after class and had handed him a compiled list of spells that he considered useful. Harry had been going through his collection of Defence books for the past two evenings, choosing the best possible spells for the next meeting, and now he was actually looking forward to the meeting.

There were more members than there had been last year, more Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who had signed up after the DA had been turned into an official club. Which also meant that not everybody was on the same level. Those who had been in the DA the past year had a very good knowledge of the spells they had covered, those who hadn't been varied very much in their ability to perform defensive spells. But by carefully pairing those students up with ones who had already mastered the spells he thought he had that problem covered rather well by now.

So after dinner Harry, Ron and Hermione packed their bags and left the Great Hall to climb all the stairs towards the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor. As they were waiting for a particularly tricky staircase to finally swing their way, Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map and started searching for the small dot marked "Draco Malfoy".

"What are you doing?", Ron asked.

"Looking where Malfoy is. He wasn't at dinner."

Hermione sighed. "Harry, you haven't once seen Malfoy do anything suspicious after you nearly ran into him that day."

Harry had located Malfoy in the Slytherin Common Room and erased the map again. "Doesn't mean that he isn't doing anything. He could do it at night, or when I'm in class, whenever I'm not checking the map."

The staircase finally arrived and the three climbed up. Hermione, however, wasn't satisfied yet. "All right, I admit that I don't now what he was doing in that Octagonal Chamber that day. And maybe it was something suspicious. But have you ever considered that whatever he was doing there, it was a one-time thing? Maybe you're constantly checking on him while he isn't planning anything worse than scaring off a few first-years right now."  
Harry shook his head. "No, 'Mione. He's up to something, I'm sure of that."

Hermione cast a glance at Ron, seeking help, but her friend only shrugged. She had asked him before, and knew that Harry was checking the Marauder's Map last thing in the evening and first thing in the morning. And nothing the two of them had said or done could have dissuaded him from that idea.

Harry was glad when they finally reached the Room of Requirements and he no longer had to face Hermione's inquisition. He simply new that Malfoy was up to no good, he knew that the Slytherin needed to be watched, and he was getting angry at his friends for not believing him. So he tried to evade discussions with Hermione about it. That way, at least they didn't get into any fights about Malfoy of all people.

Most of the members of the DA were already in the room when the trio entered, some were already paired up along the mats and were practicing spells. Harry deposited his bag on a table that stood against a wall and pulled out the parchments with spells Fairbanks had put together. That parchment he fixed to the wall with a small wave of his wand, then he picked up the parchments with his own notes and researches.

"All right everybody", he called and waited until he had everybody's attention. "I'd say we begin. Professor Fairbanks has compiled some spells he considers useful for us to learn. I've put that list up on the wall, if anybody wants to have a look what we'll be trying to learn this year. For a start, I've decided that we cover all the advanced shielding and blocking spells. That way, we can cover the more harmful spells and curses later when we know how to block and deflect them. Any questions?"

There was a murmur of 'no' and a lot of shaking heads, so Harry started to pair up the students and told them to spread out along the room. Once everybody was settled, he set to the task of demonstrating and explaining the advanced shielding and deflecting spells he had chosen for today's lesson one by one, then set the students to practice.

It went rather well. The spells, while powerful, were not difficult to master, and soon the pairs along the room were engrossed in the task of practicing, one always shooting a variety of curses into the direction of the other who tried to block and shield. Harry went along the pairs, correcting a stance here or a wand movement there, and setting two pairs of fourth-year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors to practice the more basic spells some more as he noticed that they were struggling with the more complicated spells.

He was just about to intervene and show Neville how to cast a shield all around himself so that Luna's jinxes would not be able to penetrate it at all when he heard the door to the Room of Requirement open. He didn't pay that much mind to it at first, there were always some DA members who were a little late. But after a few seconds, the sounds of curses being cast and spells being deflected died down behind him, and as he noticed that Neville was no longer looking at him but staring over his shoulder, Harry finally turned around.

He wished he hadn't. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Millicent Bullstrode and Pansy Parkinson were standing near the entrance, their wands in their hands. All the students had by now stopped practicing the spells and were watching alternatively the group of Slytherins and Harry, gauging for his reaction. Harry noticed that some Gryffindors from his year had their wands still out and had pointed them more or less into the direction of the Slytherin students. He would have smiled, had he not been so angry at Malfoy for interrupting their session.

Taking a deep breath, Harry walked over towards the door.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

Malfoy sneered and twirled his wand around in his hand. "Potter, there's no need to be so aggressive. We only want to join your club. Practicing Defence against the Dark Arts is never wrong, wouldn't you agree?"

"Get out, Malfoy!", Ron hissed, stepping up to Harry's side.

"Oh, but this is an official club, isn't it? There was an announcement in the Slytherin Common Room, stating that everybody fourth year or above could join. It didn't say anything about some people not being allowed to enter."

Harry could curse himself. He had agreed to hang those announcements in every Common Room, but that was simply because he hadn't once thought that any Slytherin would even consider joining up. Much less Malfoy and his cronies. And right now he didn't know whether he could simply kick them out. Of course he wanted to, and he thought nearly everybody else in the room wanted that, too. There might be some Ravenclaws who would not mind whether or not Slytherins were being present, but Harry definitely wanted Malfoy and the others to leave.

"I'm sorry, but the club is full. An we've already started three weeks ago. You're too late."

Malfoy sneered and twirled his wand some more. "Oh, but the announcement didn't say anything about the necessity to be there during the first session to join up. And I'm afraid that somebody forgot to put it up on the notice board until yesterday. As for being full already…it seems that the room has other thoughts about that."

He gestured towards his right and as Harry followed his gaze he for the first time regretted his choice of room for the DA. Anticipating that there were six more people to accommodate, there were now a few more mats on the floor along the wall, in a niche that hadn't been there before.

Harry drew a deep breath and looked at Hermione. He knew that Malfoy wasn't here to practice. Some other Slytherin, and he might have believed that they wanted to practice, but not Malfoy. On the other hand, he didn't now how to get rid of him right now, short of throwing him out. They had maybe half an hour left before everybody had to return to their houses before curfew, and they were always short on time. Harry didn't want to waste any more time on discussing with Malfoy.

"We'll talk to Fairbanks first thing tomorrow", Hermione whispered.

"And just let them stay here?", Ron whispered fiercely.

Hermione turned towards him and shrugged. "What do you suggest?"

Ron gripped his wand more tightly. "I'd have a few ideas," he growled, but was silenced when Harry put a hand on his arm and made a step forward.

"All right Malfoy." His voice was tight, and when Malfoy started to smirk at him all his muscles tightened up visibly. "You want to practice?" He gestured towards the niche. "Go ahead and practice. Advanced shielding and blocking spells for one half of each pair, the other one tries to get through the shield. No harmful curses. Any funny business and you're out of here."

The six Slytherins smirked and retreated into the niche while the rest of the DA members were either staring at them, or – like Neville – staring at Harry as if he had just betrayed them. Harry took the silence for exactly ten seconds, then he clapped his hands. "All right everybody, we don't have much time left. Just continue where we left off."

Hesitantly, the individual pairs took up their practicing positions again, some starting to practice, most watching the Slytherins. They had split up in three pairs and were lazily shooting curses at each other and deflecting them. It was obvious that they weren't putting an effort into it, but what the reasons for their presence here was remained a mystery.

"What do you think you're doing, mate?", Ron hissed at Harry. Harry turned towards his friend and looked at him with a resigned expression.

"I don't like this either, Ron, but losing half an hour of our already short time would be worse. If he so much as blinks at somebody wrongly he's out of here. But the DA only makes sense if we have time to practice. Let Malfoy be my worry, I have an eye on him."

Ron grudgingly went back to the mat where he practiced with Hermione. Harry continued walking amongst the pairs, correcting a stance here and there. It was rather futile, seeing that most students didn't seem to be entirely focussed on the task, and Harry himself was always busy keeping the corner with the Slytherins within his sight.

However, the remaining time passed quickly, and by the time Harry officially ended the meeting, the Slytherins were the first ones to leave. As soon as the door had closed behind them, a chorus of voices started to bombard Harry with questions.

"Stop!", he yelled after a few moments. "I can't understand a single word of what you're saying! I know what you're trying to say, and I like it just as little as you do. I'm going to talk to Professor Fairbanks first thing tomorrow morning, and by the time of the next meeting this will probably all be resolved. But now we all need to go back to our houses, curfew is up in fifteen minutes. I'll let you know what we're gong to practice before the next meeting, just so that you can prepare. That's it for tonight, thank you."

Grudgingly, the students filed out. Harry, Ron and Hermione were the last to leave, extinguishing the lights as they went. They didn't talk much on their way back to Gryffindor House, and even though it was only nine o'clock by the time they arrived, Harry immediately went up into the boys' dormitory and went to bed.

The next morning, Harry, Ron and Hermione were up early, hurriedly tossed down some breakfast and made their way towards Professor Fairbanks' office. He asked them to enter upon Harry's knock and watched the small procession that approached his desk with interest.

"Good morning Miss Granger, Misters Potter and Weasley. Do take a seat. How can I help you this early?"

Harry nervously rubbed his hands together. "It's about the DA, professor. We have a problem."

Fairbanks nodded. "What kind of problem? Anything with the spells I researched for you? Or do you want me to attend the next meeting to explain something?"

Harry shook his head. "No, nothing of that sort. It's more like…well, to be honest, it has to do with something entirely else. During our meeting yesterday evening, Draco Malfoy and five other Slytherins showed up."

A frown showed up on Fairbanks' face. "They disrupted the meeting?"

Harry shook his head hesitantly. "Not really, other than showing up late. They wanted to practice."

The frown disappeared from Fairbanks' face. "Then I'm afraid I don't really understand what your problem is, Mr. Potter."

Harry sighed. "It's not that easy. I mean, I didn't really think about it when we agreed to open the club for all houses, because I didn't think that any Slytherin would even want to participate. But when Malfoy and his cronies showed up yesterday…they did disrupt the meeting because nobody was able to focus on anything else aside from asking themselves why they were there. I know it sounds silly, but nobody was really able to focus with them being there. And I just know that they weren't there for the practice."

Fairbanks looked at the three of them in turn, and it seemed as if he was trying to keep a small smile from his face.

"And basically you're here to ask me whether there is any chance to forbid Mr. Malfoy and his fellow Slytherins from coming to the club meetings?"

"Basically, yes."

Now the grin did spread onto Fairbanks' face, though it was no malicious grin. Rather, it looked as if this whole situation was more amusing than worrying him.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Potter. Not as long as this is an open club, you can't throw people out because of personal aversions. And for as long as Mr. Malfoy doesn't do anything that gives you a reason to throw him out, I'm afraid you cannot keep him from coming to the club meetings. As soon as he does something against the club rules, you can ban him, but not before that."

Harry sighed. "That's what I was worried about. You see Professor, that Malfoy is there isn't the biggest problem. The problem really is that for as long as Malfoy is there, nobody else is really concentrating. They're all keeping an eye on him because they're worried that he's planning to do something. We have few enough meetings anyway, and if half of that time is spent with reminding them to keep focussed."

"All right, how about this. I'm going to be present during the next couple of club meetings. Now, if Mr. Malfoy or any other Slytherins show up, I'll be there to keep everybody focussed. It'll be like class, and at least in duelling practice it works to have you all in one room. And maybe his showing up was just a one-time occurrence and you won't need to worry. However, should he or any other member of Slytherin house come to the meetings with the intent to really participate, I expect of you to give them a chance like any other student from any other house."

"That's fair enough, Professor. Thank you."

"Good, that's settled then." Fairbanks smiled at Harry. "And try to see the chances this offers."

"What chances would that be, Professor?"

"Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the rivalry between Mr. Malfoy and you, Mr. Potter. Not wanting to encourage things, I was just suggesting that sometimes, confrontation is not the best course of action. Sometimes it is best to watch and observe."

Harry frowned. "What, you're suggesting I watch Malfoy?"

Fairbanks chuckled. "I'm not suggesting anything other than avoiding confrontation, Mr. Potter. And the key to that is knowledge. _Know thy enemy_ is a motto I've always found well-advised to go by. And aside from the terminology, I think you should put some thought into it."

"Thanks, Professor."

The three Gryffindors got up from their chairs.

"See you in class, Professor. I'll let you know about the next meeting in advance."

"Do that, Mr. Potter. Have a good day."

Out in the corridor, as soon as the door had closed, Ron breathed a sigh. "I had hoped he'd just kick Malfoy out."

"You heard him, Ron", Harry said. "As long as Malfoy isn't disturbing anything there's nothing he can do about it. And probably things will calm down if Fairbanks is there during the next meetings. What do you think Hermione?"

When no answer was forthcoming, Harry turned around to find his friend staring intently ahead without focus. "Hermione?"

She shook her head as if to shake off some thoughts, then looked at Harry. "Pardon?"

"Hermione, what is it?"

"Nothing, I just got thinking about something. Look, I need to make a quick stop at the library before History of Magic, I need to check on something. I'll see you later."

And without further explanation, she hurried down the corridor. Ron turned to look at Harry.

"Now what was that all about?"

Harry just shrugged. "I don't know. But she'll let us in on it sooner or later. Come on, let's get to class."


	18. A Tale of Two Brothers

**Chapter 18**** – A Tale of Two Brothers**

Night settled over the British Isles, replacing the murky grey of the days with a murky darkness of a typical British autumn night. It wasn't yet turning really cold, but it was obvious that summer had packed its suitcases and had gone on a long vacation. Darkness settled over the cities and villages, but over the past weeks the darkness had proven to be anything but peaceful. The darkness was when the Death Eaters came out to play. All over the country, witches and wizards were more careful than usual in locking their doors and windows at night and avoided leaving the house after nightfall.

In London that change was less easily recognisable, as the population of wizards and witches in the big city was not that big. But after the attacks on the Tower Bridge and Camden Town there were noticeably fewer tourists in the city and nightlife seemed to thin out remarkably.

But all of this played no role whatsoever in the scenery in a small purely muggle-inhabited area in the north of London. The people who lived there worked most of the day and went to bed early at night, never mind what Voldemort and his Death Eaters were up to, and never mind that the British authorities had officially declared the destruction of the Tower Bridge and part of Camden Town as an act of terrorism by unknown perpetrators. It didn't change anything about the fact that hardly anybody was ever seen on the street here after nightfall. The people here needed to get up early in the morning to get to work, they had no interest in staying up late at night, anyway.

However, there was one amongst the inhabitants of this street-block who in fact did care a lot about what Voldemort was up to, and what his next move would be. However, as even evil needed to sleep at times, the pursuers of evil had the right to do the same.

It was half past five in the morning when Janus suddenly woke up. Automatically, his hand pulled his wand out from underneath his pillow and he silently sat up in bed. He didn't know what it was that had woken him, he was a light sleeper, but there definitely had been something out of the ordinary that had interrupted his sleep to make him become this alert so suddenly. Something more than a bird, or a car honking somewhere in the distance.

Not bothering to switch on the lights, Janus soundlessly got up, moved towards the bedroom door and opened it. He always kept the hinges of all his doors well oiled so that he could move through his flat without making any sound. He didn't really think that he was in any danger, his apartment was well protected and warded up tightly, a fact that was made all the more easy by him living in a purely muggle neighbourhood. But nevertheless it was never wrong to be careful and vigilant. It was one of Moody's lessons, though Janus never took it to the same extreme that the old Auror did. But Janus wasn't stupid. There were quite a few Death Eaters who'd rather see him dead than alive, and he had planned on living for a while longer, thank you very much.

On bare feet Janus silently walked down the corridor towards the living room, from where a dim light was shining. Somebody had lit a fire in the fireplace. Probably somebody had flooed into his flat, which would limit the number of people who could be here at this time of day down to a very few people Janus trusted. Nevertheless, Janus remained careful and turned around the corner into the living room with his wand in a firm grip. He immediately lowered his wand as he saw just who was lying on his living room sofa, then stepped fully into the room.

"Remus?"

Slowly, Remus lowered the arm he had placed over his eyes and focussed his slightly glassy eyes on his brother.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I went to headquarters, but Sirius left a note in my room that I should come here immediately", Remus said, his voice flat and without expression. He looked tired, and didn't even make a move to sit up on the sofa.

"I'd have gotten up in half an hour anyway. And considering what's happened, it's good that you came here immediately."

A small frown appeared on Remus' forehead. "Did anything happen?"

"You could definitely say that."

Remus struggled to sit up a bit straighter on the sofa. "Is Dad all right?"

Now it was Janus' turn to frown. "Yes. I mean, I haven't talked to him in a while, but why shouldn't he be?"

Remus sank back down into the sofa and sighed. "Forget it. I just thought…forget it. Obviously, you wouldn't understand."

Janus shook his head and instead of trying to find out what his brother was talking about he tried to focus his mind on more pressing matters. He took a moment to take in his brother's appearance. Remus' clothes weren't torn or extremely damaged, but they weren't really clean either. Remus hadn't shaved in a couple of days, there were dark rings under his eyes and he seemed to be radiating exhaustion. But on first sight, there was no way for Janus to determine whether his brother was injured or not. No way but asking. "Are you all right, or do I need to call a healer?"

Remus tiredly shook his head. "Just tired."

"Then you'd better get some sleep. When is moonrise tonight?"

"Quarter to six."

Janus thought for a moment, then he nodded. "All right, there's still time for you to grab some hours of sleep. But not on the sofa. Take my bed, I'm awake anyway and I need to make a couple of calls."

Remus nodded, but for a couple of seconds he didn't move, as if he needed to work up enough control over his body to rise from the sofa. Without another word he slowly made his way out of the living room, and a few seconds later the sound of the closing bedroom door came from the hall outside.

Janus scratched his head with the top of his wand, then he went into the kitchen to make some coffee.

Half an hour later, Janus had showered and dressed, – including sneaking into his own bedroom for clothes on tiptoe so as to not wake Remus – and he was just about to start his third cup of coffee. Slowly he was starting to get awake, and that meant he had better start making some calls before Remus woke up again.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Harry and Ron still didn't know where Hermione had vanished to, but they did start to worry when Binns floated through the blackboard towards his desk and started his monotonous lecture. Class had started without Hermione. She was late, and that in itself was an occurrence without precedents. Professor Binns didn't seem to notice anything amiss, but then again Harry guessed that the ghost would not notice it immediately if none of the class showed up for the lesson.

Harry fought the oncoming drowsiness as the minutes trickled by like syrup, occasionally doodling on his parchment instead of taking notes, and exchanging worried looks with Ron when Hermione didn't make an appearance, however belated.

An hour into class, Harry was convinced that Hermione wouldn't show up for class anymore.

"Do you think something happened?", Ron whispered in a worried tone of voice.

Harry had to hide a smile. "Ron, Hermione only went to the library. What could have possibly happened to her there?"

"I don't know, but _she's missing class_, mate. Voluntarily. When has that ever happened before?"

Harry cast a glance at Binns, but the ghost didn't even seem to notice that anybody else besides him was talking.

"I don't know, but I really don't think anything happened. She probably looked something up, became engrossed in it and forgot the time. You know Hermione. There's only one problem about it."

Ron frowned. "Yeah? And what would that be?"

"She might expect us to take notes for her."

Ron paled and looked down on his parchment. Two games of hangman with Harry, some ineligible doodles and a small variety of pictures showing a hook-nosed figure with black hair drowning in a huge cauldron. Harry's parchment was equally empty as far as notes from Binns' lecture were concerned, and Ron's gaze grew worried.

"We're doomed, mate."

"Think anybody else has notes we can copy?"

Ron looked around the room, but all he saw were students in various states of drowsiness and sleep, and he didn't suspect that anybody had taken any really useful notes during this particular class.

Harry sighed. "Well, we'll just have to tell her that she missed a class without a chance of catching up on it. And anyway, she'll have a bit of explaining to do about why she missed the class in the first place."

Ron nodded, and at that moment the bell rang, announcing the end of the lesson. Binns stopped his monologue mid-sentence, took a quick look around the room and as he saw nobody approaching his desk with a question, floated back through the wall out of the classroom. Ron and Harry hurriedly packed up their stuff and left the classroom. They both had the rest of the morning off, which would normally mean they'd head back towards Gryffindor tower. But today, curiosity was deterring Harry from his plan. After a quick check on the Marauder's Map that Malfoy was on his way to Charms class as he was supposed to, Harry turned towards Ron.

"Shall we go to the library and see what Hermione is up to? I'm curious as to what it is that could possibly keep her away from a lesson."

Ron nodded and together the two of them set out to search for their friend.

The library was still rather empty that early in the morning. A group of fifth-years was sitting around one of the front tables, studying for their O.W.L.s, and here and there a random student was looking something up in a book, but no Hermione in sight.

They finally found her in the back of the library, sitting at a table, nearly hidden from sight between stacks and stacks of books. She had a roll of parchment in front of her and was scribbling frantically, not looking up except to check something in a book, or to sort the volumes with quick and precise movements into neat little stacks.

"Hermione?"

Hermione didn't react as Harry and Ron stepped up to her desk. Harry cleared his throat and tried again.

"Hermione? What are you doing?"

Hermione raised a hand to stop him while she finished writing something down, then she looked up.

"Ron, Harry, hello. I'd have come and fetched you soon, I just needed to finish something."

Ron was staring open-mouthed at the stacks of books Hermione had surrounded herself with. "What in Merlin's name is this? 'Mione, you do know that you just missed History of Magic, right?"

Hermione waved him off. "That's not important, I can always read it up later."

Harry took a step back and Ron's jaw dropped a little at that off-handed statement. Hermione saying it didn't matter that she had missed a class? Ron cast a worried glance at Harry, then looked back at Hermione.

"Are you all right?"

Finally, Hermione looked up at her two friends and smiled. "Of course. Something Fairbanks said this morning got me thinking. I just wanted to look something up, but then I found out so much that I needed to get some sort of order into it first."

Harry shook his head and looked at all the books with a frown. "Hermione, what _is_ all this?"

"Research", Hermione replied with a smile.

"Research?", Ron echoed.

"Yes Ron, research. The most important research we might have ever conducted."

Ron swallowed visibly. "And by "_we_", you mean…erm, us? As in you, Harry and me working through all those books? In our free time, outside of class?"

Hermione nodded enthusiastically, not even taking notice of Ron's worried tone. "Yes. You'll understand once I tell you what all this is. And now sit down and let me explain."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

It was nearly eleven when sounds from the bathroom announced that Remus had woken up. The shower started running, and because he had just finished off the last of the coffee, Janus got up from his seat at the kitchen table and started to brew a new pot.

Remus came into the kitchen a little while later, wearing the clothes he had arrived in this morning, only that he had exchanged his shirt for one of Janus' t-shirts. He looked a little less exhausted than he had done earlier, and also a lot less ragged now that he was showered and shaved. He slowly entered the kitchen, as if he was only waiting for Janus to object. Remus had hardly ever been in Janus' flat over the past years, and he certainly reacted as if he didn't quite belong there.

Only when Janus filled a cup with coffee and placed it on the table in front of the empty chair opposite of him did Remus fully enter the room and sat down.

"Good morning", he mumbled as he began to stir milk into his coffee. "Sorry for waking you earlier, but Sirius' note really sounded urgent."  
Janus waved him off. "It's all right, I told him to make it urgent for you to come here. There's a number of problems we have to deal with before moonrise tonight."

A frown appeared on Remus' face. "What problems?"

"The Ministry wants to interrogate you."

Remus put his cup down so hard that some of the coffee spilled onto the tabletop. "Why?"

"Well, I'd say what with Voldemort threatening to set werewolves loose on the community it was only a question of time until they started to go looking for the people on the werewolf registry. Imagine their surprise when they found out that you were amongst those who were nowhere to be found."

Remus sank back in his chair and tiredly rubbed his hand across his face.

"Great. And now?"

Janus shrugged and finished his coffee. "I have something in mind, and I've already been making some calls."

Remus nodded, clearly trying to figure out what Janus was talking about, yet he didn't ask directly. Instead he got up from his chair, took a glass down from the shelf above the sink and filled it with water from the tap.

"You do know that London tap water contains chlorine?", Janus asked just as Remus had raised the glass to his mouth. It only took those words and one sip of the water and Remus was leaning over the sink, spitting the water out again.

"Thanks for the warning", Remus said grumpily and poured the remaining water down the drain.

"There's water in the refrigerator", Janus replied without revealing whether he was amused or not by the little episode. Remus went over and pulled a bottle out of the refrigerator, then he sat back down.

"Before we go and try to do our best to keep you out of prison, how about you give me a little insight into what you've been up to over the past weeks. You cut our last conversation short, so now I want some answers."

Remus sighed. "Do you really want to know, or do you merely want to get rid of the lecture you've been making up ever since you got to know about what I've done?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Of course it matters. Because if it's a lecture you have in mind, I'm going to spare myself the trouble of trying to explain anything to you."

Janus shook his head. "Well, I think we don't need to talk about how incredibly stupid that idea was. What did you think you had to prove?"

"Nothing", Remus snapped defensively. "This wasn't about proving anything."

"Oh no? Then why in Merlin's name did you suddenly decide to go and chase the man who very nearly killed you once?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Do you honestly think that's what it was about? I wasn't chasing Greyback, but if Voldemort uses him to recruit the werewolves, then I am the one who has the best chance of finding out what he's trying to do. So stop lecturing me."

Janus raised his hands in a gesture that clearly said "suit yourself", but in all honesty he wasn't in the very least calm or satisfied with his brother's argument. It had been a ludicrous risk Remus had taken, that's all there was to it.

"So then, what is Greyback doing?"

"He's not making it easy for you if that's what you're hoping. He's on the move nearly constantly, never stays in one place for longer than a day or two, three at the most."

"And what about the other werewolves?"

Remus shrugged and refilled his coffee. "Greyback knows that the Ministry keeps a close eye on those werewolves that are in the werewolf registry. He's not stupid, he's trying to gather the others."

"Oh come on Remus, it has a reason that there's a werewolf registry in Great Britain. How many werewolves who are not on the registry can there be?"

A smile showed on Remus' face. "For somebody who worked his way so high up in law enforcement you seem to have a pretty blind spot on that topic. The werewolf registry is an attempt by the government to try and get things under control. And it's working. But that doesn't mean that there are no more unregistered werewolves around. Quite the contrary, to be precise."

Janus' thoughts began to race in his mind. Truth be told, he had never really spent much thoughts on the werewolf registry and the question whether it encompassed all the existing werewolves in Britain. He knew that one of the healers who had treated Remus after he had been bitten had put his name into the registry, first in France and then later after their move to Britain Remus had also been registered here. But the question whether there were werewolves who were not registered had never really crossed Janus' mind.

"And how many unregistered werewolves are we talking about?"

Remus shrugged. "Don't ask me for any numbers. But that's your big problem. Most werewolves hold a grudge against society, and that's what Voldemort is counting on. The werewolves who are registered might be more careful because they know they are being watched, but those who are not registered might be very susceptible to Voldemort's promises."

Janus still wasn't entirely convinced by his brother's arguments about the not registered werewolves, but that was not what was bothering him so much.

"But where is Greyback? Voldemort threatened to set werewolves loose somewhere in Britain, where does he call them to? And how in Merlin's name does Greyback know where to find werewolves?"

Again, Remus only laughed at his brother's imagination of how things were going. "Believe me that Greyback knows where he has to look. He has made a large number of those werewolves what they are. And he's not exactly handing out invitations saying "_If you're a werewolf and feel let down by the wizarding government, please come to this address two days before the next full moon._" The day I called you was the only time that there was something that could be called a bigger gathering, and that was also the only time that I dared to get really close to Greyback. Before that, I had been following him around, keeping my distance and trying to find out what he was up to. And after that I didn't want to keep following Greyback because sooner or later he would have noticed."

"Then what did you do? I mean, you've been away for nearly a month."

"I went here and there, seeking out some of the werewolves to find out what exactly Greyback had told them to do. That was a lengthy process, that's why I thought I might not make it back before the next full moon. It was too risky, though, that's why I returned to headquarters."

Janus waited for a moment whether his brother would continue. When Remus didn't but instead poured himself another cup of coffee Janus sighed impatiently.  
"There's one question you're dodging to answer, Remus. What is going to happen tonight? What has Voldemort ordered Greyback to do?"

Remus didn't look up from stirring milk into his coffee. "I don't know."

Janus' head snapped up. "You don't know?"

"No, I don't know."

"So you're telling me that you've just vanished for a month, worrying everybody, with the result that you don't know what you left to find out?"

Something like anger showed on Remus' face, but Janus didn't care. _He_ had every right to be angry, not Remus. What had Remus been thinking? And why hadn't he simply aborted the whole stupid mission once he had realised how useless it all was? Janus was about to voice those thoughts when Remus interrupted him.

"I might not know what Voldemort's orders were, but that doesn't mean that I didn't learn anything. The problem is that after Voldemort's threat the whole Ministry expected him to gather the werewolves and set them loose at a certain target tonight."

Janus frowned. "And you calling this a problem means that you don't think that he's going to pull through with that?"

"Oh, I think that threat was meant very serious. I just don't think that it was Greyback's task to _gather_ the werewolves."

"And what was his task?"

"As far as I can tell, Greyback was sent out to do what he's doing best – to pull people on Voldemort's side. The mere fact that somebody is a werewolf doesn't necessarily mean that they are only waiting for Voldemort's command to reach them. Most of the unregistered werewolves aren't on the registry simply because they don't want to be revealed. They hide the fact that they were bitten, but they don't necessarily go stalking for prey once a month. They hide away, afraid of the government's repercussions, and lock themselves up once the full moon comes. It's those werewolves that Greyback was trying to recruit, those werewolves he was trying to pull on Voldemort's side with the promise of a life free of potential repercussions for what they are. That's Greyback's job."

The frown on Janus' face deepened. "What, to tell the werewolves that it'll all be better once Voldemort is back in power?"

"No, to convince them that the only way to make their lives better is to do their own part in helping Voldemort get back to power."

"And how?"

"By not locking themselves up anymore during the full moon."

Janus shook his head. "You can't be serious. First you tell me that those werewolves are trying to keep a low profile, and now you're suddenly telling me that upon one word from Greyback they start biting people?"

Remus shrugged tiredly. "Greyback is very persuading. And you would do well not to underestimate all the repressed anger and fear that's simmering in every werewolf in this society. No small wonder, seeing how awfully difficult everyday life is made for a werewolf. The promise of a normal life, of retribution even, is a very powerful tool. And both Greyback and Voldemort are far too clever to do things the way the Ministry expects them to do."

Janus' expression darkened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That it's hard enough to prepare for one concentrated werewolf attack somewhere in the country, but given the right intelligence and information the Ministry might be able to prevent the worst. But there is no way to prepare for werewolves roaming loose all over the country. Do you understand that now? If werewolves are going to run free all over the country, there is nothing the Ministry can do to stop this. No evacuation, no Auror forces to stop them, nothing. Well, nothing short of setting a country-wide curfew, though you'll never be able to muster the forces to successfully put it through everywhere. But it's a start, so maybe you should go to the office and arrange things." He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a tattered and slightly dirty roll of parchment. "Here's all the information I have gathered over the past weeks. Places Greyback went to, people he talked to, everything I could observe without revealing myself. It's by no means complete, but it's a start as to what places and people you should pay special attention to."

Janus leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head, thinking hard. What Remus had said made a cruel sense, and he could kick himself for not having thought about it earlier. He needed to tell Moody as soon as possible, that was true.

"Janus?", Remus' voice tore him out of his thoughts. "You did hear me, didn't you? Why aren't you on your way to the office yet? I can get to Dad's place on my own."

"I'll tell Moody in a moment."

Now it was Remus' turn to frown. "But don't you need to get to the office?"

Janus sighed, not at all fancying the lengthy explanations that were bound to follow. "I'll tell Moody. Right now, I'm _persona non grata_ in the DMLE. Fudge suspended me."

"Why did he do that?"

Janus shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. "Fudge would jump at every opportunity to get rid of me. He never trusted me. And when the headcount of the werewolf registry showed that you were unaccounted for, that was reason enough for him to suspend me." He saw that Remus was about to say something, so he raised his hands to ward off his brother's next words. "I know what you're going to say, so spare yourself the trouble. I'm in contact with Moody, and just because Fudge thinks he can stop me it doesn't mean that he really can. So yes, I am going to tell Moody what you just told me, but for now it is important to keep you out of prison."

Remus leaned back in his chair and tiredly rubbed his face. "As much as I appreciate the idea of keeping me to of prison, I don't quite see how you're going to manage that."

"As I said, I've already made some plans. Basically, all we need to do is figure out a plausible story as to where you've been for the past weeks. And the story needs to be tight enough so that they have no grounds to interrogate you anymore. As soon as they do that, they'll force you to take a truth potion and then the whole thing will blow up. Or do you want me to obliviate you?"

Remus shook his head. "No, thanks."

"That's what I thought. Which leads us back to creating a plausible story for your whereabouts." Janus got up from his chair and fetched a roll of parchments from the living room. He sat back down and refilled his coffee before he started to speak again.

"I've been making some calls earlier, now you only need to memorise what I tell you. All right. For the past three weeks you've been in France. You've been working on a research for Professor Luc Bouloin, director of the French Bibliothèque Nationale. Professor Bouloin is currently working on a book about…let me see" Janus shuffled the parchments around a little as he was searching "Here, about…_sociological reasons for the inter-goblinish wars of the 15__th__ century_, and he needed an assistant who is able to read ancient goblinish fluently. Which is where you come in."

Remus swallowed. "I wouldn't call my reading knowledge of ancient goblinish fluent, though."

Janus looked up from the parchments and glared at his brother. "Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to find a research project that was more suited to your liking. You'd better be glad that Professor Bouloin owed me a very big favour. He's finishing the paperwork as we speak, you'll get a copy of it as soon as it's finished."

Remus shook his head. "That's all good and fine, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the Ministry knows that I never left Britain during the past weeks. I'd have needed to inform the Ministry about my leaving the country, and I never did."

Janus grinned. He hadn't forgotten about that little detail. The Ministry was keeping protocol of werewolf movements, another regulation which made the life of a lycanthrope all the more difficult. So if Remus wanted to claim that he had spent the past three weeks in France, the Ministry needed to be able to check that story. Which meant that there had to be a written announcement of his departure with the _Department for Control of Magical Creatures_, and there had to be a confirmation of his arrival in France with the French Ministry. This procedure was the main reason why Remus' and Janus' father hadn't full moved back to his native country yet, despite the fact that he had wanted to for a long time already. But Richard Lupin wanted to spare his son all that official trouble whenever he was coming for a visit. There was a house in France which belonged to Remus' and Janus' aunt where Richard spent quite a lot of time, but the most part of the year Richard Lupin lived in Kent. Currently, though, Richard Lupin was in France, watching the house while his sister was on a prolonged trip to the South American.

"As soon as the Ministry will check your story, they will find the written announcement of your departure, dated exactly twenty-four days back, which had unfortunately been placed into the wrong file. You only need to sign it before it gets sorted into the wrong file." Janus pushed a parchment, quill and ink towards his brother and continued. "People simply make mistakes. As soon as they're going to check back with the French Ministry, their request will be forwarded to Eloise Toullebecq, who will then tell them that you have arrived in France at exactly the day that you announced you would, and that you stayed in France since then. She's currently handling the paperwork on the French side for me. So we've got all sides of this covered. The story is tight enough so that there are no grounds to interrogate you, and nobody will have any reason to give you a truth serum."

Remus finished his coffee and frowned at his brother. "Why are all those people faking documents and risking their jobs to do this?"

Janus just shrugged. "They owe me favours."

"You're calling in favours to help me? And what in Merlin's name did you do that they owe you such big favours?"

"You don't really want to know, believe me. Now we only have one problem."

"Which?"  
Janus sighed. "Well, just in case the Ministry is more thorough than I think. I wouldn't put it past Fudge to put some pressure on his people to find something that justifies my suspension for an even longer stretch of time. So just in case they come asking, we need to tell our dear father what he has to tell them. That you were indeed in France and that you have been staying at his place for the past three weeks."

Remus sighed and leaned his head into his hands. "And your choice of wording bears the message that you haven't spoken to him yet and that it's my task in this whole scheme to tell him about it."

Janus nodded. "That would be right. It's only fair, seeing that I did all the other calling and explaining."

"All right, so be it."

Janus silently raised an eyebrow. "The only problem is that Dad will probably want to know where you were during those three weeks. I'd very much want to hear what you come up with for that, but unfortunately I've got other things to do today."

"Then I'd better go and apparate to his place as soon as possible, it might take a little while for him to calm down."

Janus started to rummage around in the pocket of his robe and withdrew a roll of spell-o-tape.

"Better take this. Homemade portkey, practically untraceable. Just to be on the safe side, after all as far as the Ministry is concerned, you haven't left France in weeks. Just tap it with your wand, and off you go."

Remus took the spell-o-tape and put it into the pocket of his own robes. "Thank you, Janus."

"I can bear with the loss of a roll of spell-o-tape."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I was thanking you for all you've done, but I know that you understood that immediately, so I am not going to repeat it. I'd better be off."

Remus went into the bedroom to fetch the dirty shirt he had discarded earlier, then he pulled out the portkey, tapped it with his wand and vanished. Janus looked after him for a moment, the he pulled out his wand and levitated the dirty cups into the sink where they started scrubbing themselves clean. Janus checked his watch, then decided to go out for a quick lunch before he went to see Moody. Remus would spend the full moon tonight with their father, and before that nothing much would happen. He'd get the paperwork from Professor Bouloin later in the afternoon and drop it off at their father's place for Remus to sign. That should give Remus enough time to calm their old man down from whatever worried frenzy he would talk himself into as soon as he heard the news that his younger son needed an alibi for the past three weeks. Janus didn't particularly want to be there for _that_ occasion.

And seeing that he had no office to return to, nor any paperwork to finish, Janus would try to make his evening enjoyable. He'd keep an eye out on what was happening tomorrow when Remus officially came back to Britain, and he'd also tell Moody to try his best and keep Remus out of further trouble. It wasn't the most perfect plan, but it was the best that could have been done in the short time, and it would have to do.


End file.
